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STATE  HORMAL  SCHOOL, 

Lot  Angtitti.  Cai. 

BRIEF    BIOGRAPHIES 


GERMAN 

Political    Leaders 


HERBERT  TUTTLE 


NEW  YORK 
G.     P.     PUTNAM'S    SONS 

183  Fifth  Avenue 

1880 


10  32 


7  05  43 


3  3  5:? 


a  05" 


EDITOR'S   PREFACE. 


HE  author  of  this  volume  is  already  well  kno'wn  to 
many  Americans  through  his  letters  from  Berlin 
to  the  New  York  Tribune,  and  to  the  London 
Daily  Neivs,  as  well  by  his  Essays  on  German  themes,  in 
the  Genikman's  Magazine,  and  elsewhere.  Being  a  native 
of  the  United  States,  and  a  four  years'  resident  of  Berlin,  he 
is  remarkably  well  situated  for  the  preparation  of  this  par- 
ticular book  ;  as  he  may  be  supposed  to  understand  both 
his  subject  and  his  audience.  Our  best  books  of  refer- 
ence afford  such  scanty  information  in  respect  to  German 
statesmen,  that  a  work  like  this  cannot  fail  to  possess 
great  popular  value. 

T.  W.  H. 
Newport,  R.  I.,  April  3,   1876. 


PREFACE. 


HE  larger  portion  of  the  men  described  in  this  vol- 
ume will,  doubtless,  be  here  introduced  to  Ameri- 
can readers  for  the  first  time.  So  overshadowing 
are  the  fame  and  authority  of  Prince  Bismarck,  so  recent 
was  the  introduction,  and  so  crude  is  the  present  state  of 
parliamentary  life  in  Germany,  that  the  minor  personages, 
who  are  concerned  with  the  modest  and  obscure  details  of 
the  system,  are  but  little  known  abroad.  This  is  a  misfor- 
tune, and,  also,  a  mistake.  I  am  firmly  convinced  that  the 
experiment  which  Germany  is  making  in  constitutional 
government,  is  already  rich  in  lessons  for  the  philosophic 
student  of  politics,  and  ought  not  to  be  neglected,  even  by 
the  most  hurried  observer  of  current  events.  The  prepar- 
ation of  this  book  has,  therefore,  been  an  agreeable  duty. 
Biogra,phy  is  often  more  attractive  than  history  ;  and  I 
have  taken  advantage  of  this  fact,  to  insinuate,  now  and 
then,  upon  the   unsuspecting  reader  general  facts  and  de- 


viii  PREFACE. 

ductions,  from  which  he  might  otherwise  have  escaped. 
But  the  history  of  the  early  constitutional  struggles  in 
Prussia  and  Germany  has  yet  to  be  written. 

Some  of  the  gentlemen  included  in  the  following  pages 
are  personally  known  to  me,  and  the  careers  of  all  of  them 
have  been  critically  observed  during  an  uninterrupted  resi- 
dence of  nearly  four  years  in  Germany,  I  have  not 
scrupled,  therefore,  to  reproduce  a  few  passages  from  ear- 
lier contributions  of  my  own  to  the  daily  and  other  periodi- 
cal press.  All  extracts  from  foreign  sources,  on  the  other 
hand,  have  been  specifically  acknowledged. 

H.  T. 

Berlin,  March,  1876. 


CONTENTS. 


I.— THE  CHANCELLOR. 

PAGB 

1.  Prince  Bismarck i 

II.— MINISTERS. 

2.  Dr.  Falk 25 

3.  President  Delbruck 39 

4.  Herr  Camphausen 49 

III.— THE  DIPLOMATIC  SERVICE. 

5.  Prince   Hohenlohe 61 

6.  Count  von  Arnim , '73 

IV.— THE  PARLIAMENTARIANS. 

7.  Herr  von  Bennigsen gi 

8.  Dr.  Simson loi 

v.— THE  PARTY   LEADERS. 

9.  Herr  Lasker.. 113 

10.  Herr  Windthorst 129 

11.  Dr.  Loewe 139 

12.  Herr  Schulze-Delitzsch 148 

13.  Herr    Jacoby 160 

14.  Herr  Hasselmann 176 

15.  Herr  Sonnemann 192 

VL— THE  SCHOLARS  IN  POLITICS. 

16.  Professor  Gneist 203 

17.  Professor  Virchow 216 

iS.  Professor  Treitschke 233 

19.  Professor  von  Sybel 247 


\y 


PART  I. 

The  Chancellor. 


I. 


Prince  Bismarck. 


||HE  historians  have  a  theory  which  derives  the 
family  name,  Bismarck,  from  "  Bischoffs-Marck," 
or  "Bishop's  Limits,"  from  a  domain  that  was 
once  ceded  by  the  Bishop  of  Havelberg  to  the  ancestors  of 
the  great  Prussian.  The  family  came  from  Stendal,  a 
town  about  sixty  miles  from  Berlin,  where  they  are  traced 
back  to  the  fourteenth  century.  One  Rule  von  Bismarck 
appears  in  the  records  of  these  turbulent  times  to  have  played 
an  important  part  in  the  guild  of  tailors  and  in  the  town 
council,  and  to  have  been  excommunicated  in  conse- 
quence of  disputes  with  the  clergy,  as  to  the  management 
of  the  town  schools.  His  son,  Claus,  leader  of  the  aris- 
tocracy, was  banished  by  the  Democratic  party.  Among 
these  earlier  representatives,  as  well  as  among  their  de- 
scendants, we  find  several  who  distinguished  themselves 
both  in  militar)'  and  political  service.  In  the  early  part  of 
this  century,  the  house  was  represented  by  Carl  Wilhelm 
P'erdinand  von   Bismarck,   who  is  described  as  a  "noble, 


2  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

genial,  kind-hearted  man,"  a  retired  soldier,  who  rose  to 
the  rank  of  Captain  of  cavalry.  His  wife,  whom  he  mar- 
ried in  1806,  was  a  Friiulein  Menken,  a  refined  and  culti- 
vated woman.  They  lived  at  Schonhausen,  a  roomy  es- 
tate near  Stendal,  which  the  family  had  acquired  ;  and 
here,  on  the  ist  of  April,  181 5,  Otto  Edward  Leopold,  the 
fourth  child,  was  born. 

Herr  Gorlach,  in  his  excellent  little  biography  of  the 
Prince,  describes  him  as  a  youth  of  a  very  tender  nature. 
In  his  sixth  year,  while  his  family  were  living  on  the 
Knjephof  estate  in  Pomerania,  Otto  "was  sent  to  an  edu- 
cational institute  at  Berlin,  where  the  extreme  severity  of 
the  treatment  wounded  the  boy's  soft  nature.  He  had 
found  his  brother  Bernhard  there,  but  still  he  suffered 
greatly  from  home-sickness,  and  could  not  watch  the 
ploughmen  ploughing  in  the  fields  without  tears.  The 
two  boys  passed  from  one  Berlin  school  to  another,  ac- 
cording to  their  progress  and  ages  ;  and  later,  when  they 
were  living  in  their  father's  house  in  Berlin,  the  direction  of 
their  studies  was  confided  to  private  tutors." 

His  tutor  describes  him  at  this  period  as  quick  of  ap- 
prehension, industrious,  with  a  good  memory,  and  fond 
of  the  history  of  his  own  country.  As  a  Protestant  he  was 
a  pupil  of  and  was  confirmed  by  the  great  theologian  and 
pulpit  orator,  Schleiermacher. 

From  the  private  tutor  he  passed,  in  1832,  to  the  Uni- 
versity of  Gottingen.  At  this  place  the  "  tenderness  "  of 
his  nature  seems  to  have  deserted  him,  as  well  as  his  earlier 
habits  of  study,  for  he  was  a  leader  in  all  the  most  charac- 
teristic sports  and  excesses  of  German  student-life.  He 
was  a   species   of  college  champion,   the  best  boxer  and 


PRINCE   BISMARCK.  3 

fencer,  drinker,  and  rider.  Of  his  studies  there,  it  is 
enough  to  say  that  one  professor  declares  he  never  saw  him 
at  his  lectures.  From  a  multitude  of  reminiscences  out  of 
the  period  of  Bismarck's  life  I  select  one  which  he  himself 
has  very  lately  furnished.  The  publisher  of  the  Public  Led- 
ger in  Philadelphia,  sent  the  Prince  at  Varzin  a  cane 
made  from  the  wood  of  Independence  Hall  ;  and  in  ac- 
knowledgment of  the  gift  received  the  following  interest- 
ing letter  : 

"  Varzin,  July  4,  1875. 

"  Dear  Sir  : — You  have  had  the  goodness  to  send  me, 
as  a  support  for  my  old  days,  a  cane  made  from  the  tower 
from  whose  heights,  ninety-nine  years  ago,  the  bell  was 
rung  for  the  first  time  in  honor  of  that  great  common- 
wealth, whose  ship  bells  now  sound  their  full  and  welcome 
tongues  in  all  harbors  of  the  world.  For  this  histori- 
cal treasure  I  beg  you  to  accept  my  heartiest  thanks.  I 
shall  honor  it,  carefully  preserve  it,  and,  with  other  relics 
of  remarkable  years,  bequeath  it  to  my  children.  This 
day  is  one  of  those  which  always  recall  to  my  mind  the 
happy  hours  that  I  have  spent  on  many  a  fourth  of  July, 
with  American  friends,  the  first  time  with  John  Lothrop 
Motley,  Mitchell  G.  King,  and  Amory  Coffin,  in  1832,  at 
Gottingen.  I  only  wish  that  you,  my  dear  sir,  and  I 
could  always  be  as  sound  and  happy  as  we  four  lusty  fel- 
lows, when  forty-three  years  ago  we  celebrated  the  Fourth 
of  July  at  Gottingen.  Von  Bismarck." 

These  little  glimpses  into  his  early  life  and  character 
might  be  supplemented  by  an  extract  from  a  letter  to  his 
favorite  sister,  "  Maldewine,"  and  to  his  wife.  To  the  lat- 
ter he  writes  on  one  occasion  :   "  The  day  before  yesterday 


4  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

I  went  to  Wiesbaden,  and  looked  with  a  mixture  of  sad- 
ness and  premature  wisdom  at  the  scenes  of  my  former 
follies.  If  only  it  W'Ould  please  God  to  fill  up  with  clear 
strong  wine  the  vessel  in  which  at  twenty-one  the  muddy 
champagne  of  youth  frothed  up  to  so  little  purpose  !  .  .  . 
How  many  of  those  with  whom  I  flirted  and  drank  and 
gambled  are  now  underground  !  What  changes  my  views 
of  life  have  undergone  in  the  fourteen  years  that  have 
elapsed  since  that  time,  each  in  its  turn  seeming  to  me  the 
correct  one ;  how  much  that  I  then  thought  great  now  ap- 
pears small  ;  how  much  now  seems  honorable  which  I 
then  despised  !  How  much  fresh  foliage  may  still  grow 
out  of  our  inner  man,  giving  shade,  rustling  in  the  wind, 
becoming  worthless  and  faded,  before  another  fourteen 
years  are  passed,  before  1865,  if  only  we  live  so  long  !  I 
cannot  imagine  how  a  man  who  thinks  at  all  about  him- 
self, and  yet  refuses  to  hear  anything  about  God,  can  en- 
dure life  without  weariness  and  self-abhorrence." 

On  the  occasion  of  the  death  of  his  sister's  child,  ten 
years  later,  he  writes  a  letter  of  consolation,  full  of  the 
most  tender  Christian  sentiments,  and  even  in  the  stormy 
period  of  1864,  he  closes  a  political  letter  to  a  friend  with 
the  following  confession  of  faith  :  "  You  see  from  this  that 
I  take  a  common-sense  view  ot  the  question  ;  besides,  my 
feeling  of  gratitude  for  the  support  which  God  has  given 
us  rises  into  the  conviction  that  He  also  knows  how  to 
turn  our  errors  into  our  good  ;  I  feel  this  daily  and  am  at 
once  humiliated  and  comforted." 

His  domestic  tastes  were  always  strong,  and  find  expres- 
sion in  the  entire  course  of  his  correspondence.  His  long- 
ing  for  a  wife  and  household  of  his  own  would  seem  to 


PRINCE   BISMARCK.  5 

have  been  very  acute,   till  in  1847,  it  was  satisfied  by  his 

jtiariiage^Wth  Johanna  von  Putkammer.  Three  children 
— Marie,  born  in  1848,  Herbert  in  1849,  William  in 
1852 — are  the  fruit  of  this  union. 

We  return  now  to  trace  the  steps  in  his  professional 
course.  After  leaving  Gottingen,  he  attended  some  lec- 
tures at  Berlin,  and  in  jSj^was  qualified  as  Auscidta- 
lor,  the  first  degree  in  a  German  advocate's  career.   In  the 

jvinter  of  ,lhis_year  he  was  presented  at  court,  and  met,  for 
the  first  time,  his  present  sovereign  and  master,  then  Prince 

.^^mUarn  of  Prussia.  In  1836,  he  was  admitted  to  the  S'-r- 
vice  of  the  Government,  and  was  assigned  to  duty  at  Aix- 

_k;Chapelle — a  position  that  gave  him  much  intercourse 
with  .foreigners,  and  was  of  great  influence  in  shaping  his 
future  political  character.  A  little  later  he  was  transferred 
to  the  district  of  Potsdam,  where  he  served  his  year  in  the 
army.  In  1839,  the  death  of  his  mother  and  illness  of  his 
father  recalled  him  to  the  family  estates  in  Pomerania, 
of  which  he  and  his  brother  assumed  the  management,  a 
relation  which  lasted  till  1845,  and  threatened  for  ever  to 
put  an  end  to  his  political  career.  But  in  that  year  his 
father  died,  and  the  property  was  divided.  The  estate  of 
Schonhausen  fell  to  the  share  of  Otto,  and  the  term  has 
ever  since  formed  an  integral  part  of  his  name.  The  next 
two  years  were  those  of  a  country  gendeman,  farming, 
shooting,  riding,  with  a  little  local  politics,  and  finally,  in 
1847,  ^i^  election  to  the  Assembly  of  the  Estates  or  United 
Diet  of  February.  With  this  event  ends  one  period  and 
begins  another  of  Bismarck's  life. 

In  this  year  the  political  fermentation  in  Prussia  had 
reached  a  crisis.     The  broken  pledges  of  Frederic    Wil- 


6  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

liam  III.,  to  give  his  people  a  written  constitution,  had 
been  renewed  by  his  successor,  Frederic  William  IV.,  and 
their  fulfilment  delayed  in  the  same  manner.  The  conces- 
sion of  the  United  Diet  of  1847,  was  only  wrung  from  him 
by  the  irresistible  necessities  of  the  time.  Even  then  it 
was  a  concession  in  form  from  which  the  spirit  revolted, 
for  in  the  throne  speech  at  the  opening  of  the  deliberation, 
the  king  declared  that  no  power  on  earth  should  ever  succeed 
in  moving  him  to  transform  the  natural  relation  between 
Sovereign  and  People  into  a  conventional,  constitutional  one; 
and  never  would  he  consent  that  a  written  document  should 
be  allowed  to  intrude  between  the  Lord  God  in  Heaven 
and  his  country  and  to  take  the  place  of  the  ancient  faith. 
These  were  unpromising  ideas  on  which  to  base  a  scheme 
of  constitutional  reform,  and  all  patriots  foresaw  stormy 
times.  But  the  King  was  not  without  stalwart  friends. 
The  old  coMVLiry  Junkers  rallied  generally  around  his  most 
arbitrary  maxims,  and  none  more  heartily 'than  Herr  Otto 
von  Bismarck. 

One  or  two  speeches  will  give  a  rough  idea  of  his  views 
of  this  period.  His  first  appearance  in  the  tribune  was 
on  the  17th  of  May  ;  the  occasion  was  to  correct  what  he 
regarded  as  a  false  theory  of  the  uprising  in  1813  to  expel 
the  French.  A  deputy  had  pretended^  that  the  people 
came  to  the  relief  of  their  King  because  he  had  promised 
them  a  written  constitution.  Bismarck  protested  that  this 
view  was  not  only  false  but  dishonorable.  The  people  of 
Prussia,  he  declared,  did  not  rise  to  throw  oflf  the  yoke  of 
domestic  but  of  foreign  servitude.  He  did  not  shrink 
from  the  title  oi  Jtmker.  "I  am  proud  of  being  a  Prus- 
sian y««/^^r, "  said  he  once,  "and  feel  myself  honored  by 


PRINCE   BISMARCK.  7 

the  name."  Again,  in  June  of  the  same  year,  he  said, 
"  The  only  question  is,  who  has  the  right  to  give  an  au- 
thentic and  legally-binding  interpretation  of  a  doubtful 
law  ?  In  my  opinion,  no  one  but  the  King  ;  and  this 
conviction  lies,  as  I  believe,  in  the  popular  sense  of  right. 
It  is  difficult  to  get  at  the  opinion  of  the  people  ;  in  some 
of  the  places  in  the  central  provinces  I  think  I  have  dis- 
covered it,  and  have  found  it  to  be  still  the  old  popular 
Prussian  belief,  that  the  word  of  a  King  is  more  than  all 
the  turning  and  twisting  of  the  letter  of  the  law." 

This  is  indeed  the  opinion  of  an  extreme  conservative, 
but  of  one  who  did  not  despise  reason  and  reasoning. 
English  examples  were  constantly  cited,  and  to  these  Bis- 
marck invariably  replied  :  "  Give  us  everything  English 
that  we  have  not  got ;  give  us  the  English  fear  of  God, 
English  respect  for  laws,  the  entire  English  constitution, 
but  also  the  exact  circumstances  of  the  English  land-owner 
— English  riches,  and  English  public  spirit, — then  we  shall 
be  able  to  govern  as  they  do." 

The  first  united  Landtag  gave  way  to  the  second,  and  this 
in  time  to  the  constituent  Parliament ;  the  insurrection  of 
March,  after  a  few  angry  spurts,  had  everywhere  succumbed 
to  the  Prussian  military  ;  and  the  result  was  a  frightened 
and  obstinate  King  surrounded  by  a  band  of  faithful  fol- 
lowers, and  anassembly  in  which  a  fierce  and  determined 
radicalism  held  control. 

In  these  preliminary  conflicts  Herr  von  Bismarck  had 
shown  a  determined  zeal  for  the  integrity  of  the  Prussian 
crown,  and  withal  such  a  generous  sympathy  with  the 
Austrian  element  in  German  politics,  that  on  the  as- 
sembling of  the  Frankfort  Diet  in  1851,  he  was  attached 


8  *   BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

to  the  Prussian  delegation  as  Councilor  and  Secretar}'. 
One  of  his  letters  from  that  city  gives  an  amusing  sketch 
of  the  method  of  diplomacy  as  then,  at  least,  practiced. 

"I  am  making  tremendous  progress,"  he  writes,  "in 
the  art  of  saying  absolutely  nothing  in  a  great  many  words. 
I  write  sheets  of  reports  which  read  quite  well  and  fluent- 
ly, like  leading  articles,  but  if  Manteuffel  [then  President 
of  the  Ministry],  when  he  has  read  them,  can  say  what  they 
contain,  he  is  cleverer  than  I  am.  Each  one  behaves  as  if 
he  believed  that  the  other  were  crammed  full  of  ideas  and 
plans,  if  he  would  only  tell  them  ;  and,  meanwhile,  not  one 
of  us  is  an  atom  the  wiser  as  to  what  will  become  of  Ger- 
many, Nobody,  not  even  the  most  evil-minded  skeptic  of 
a  Democrat,  would  believe  what  an  amount  of  charlatanry 
and  bragging  there  is  in  diplomacy." 

Later,  the  same  year,  he  was  appointed  Ambassador  af 
the  Diet,  and  gradually  became,  instead  of  a  friend,  a 
most  energetic  foe  of  Austrian  policy.  This  position  he 
retained  till  1859,  when  he  was  transferred  to  St.  Peters- 
burg. During  this  period  he  had  not  only  obtained  a 
deep  practical  insight  into  the  German  system,  or  want  of 
system  ;  but  he  had  made  many  useful  and  pleasant  visits 
to  different  countries.  He  traveled  in  Holland,  Belo^ium, 
Denmark,  and  Sweden,  and  he  was  t\vice  in  Paris,  in  1855 
and  1857.  The  second  time  he  had  a  long  conversation 
with  the  Emperor  Napoleon.  His  appointment  to  the 
Russian  Court  he  owed  to  the  partiality  of  Prince  William, 
who  became  Regent  in  1858. 

In  1 86 1,  on  the  death  of  Frederic  William  IV.,  the 
Prince  Regent  became  King  ;  and  soon  afterward,  as  is 
understood,  he  formed  the  plan  of  making  his  Ambassa- 


PRINCE   BISMARCK.  9 

dor  on  the  Neva,  Minister  President  of  Prussia.  In  the 
meantime  he  served  a  few  months  at  Paris,  and  entered 
the  Ministry  as  Premier  and  IMinister  of  ForeigiLAffairs  on 
the  8th  of  October,  1862.  The  real  warfare  of  his  life  be- 
gan at  this  time.  King  and  Minister  had  a  perfect  under- 
standing about  the  policy  to  pursue.  The  King  was  a 
soldier  and  had  the  sympathy  of  Bismarck  and  the  assist- 
ance of  Roon  and  Moltke  in  the  scheme  of  military  reform, 
to  which  he  at  once  began  to  devote  himself.  The  Minis- 
ter had  resolved  on  the  expulsion  of  Austria  as  the  condi- 
tion of  a  strong  and  enduring  Germany.  The  details  of 
these  two  independent  schemes — pursued  in  the  face  of  an 
unwilling  people  and  in  spite  of  Legislatures  which  had 
the  constitutional  right  to  defeat  them — make  up  one  of 
the  most  exciting  and  instructive  epochs  in  modern  his- 
tory. The  government  could  not  reveal  its  ultimate  plans 
without  ruining  them ;  and  it  had  too  much  contempt  for 
democracy  to  respect  even  the  forms  of  Parliamentary 
institutions.  The  House  was  overwhelmingly  Liberal  ;  it 
hated  Bismarck  and  distrusted  the  King  ;  and  to  strength- 
en the  army  seemed  but  to  strengthen  its  own  fetters.  It 
refused  the  appropriation^  and  the  Ministry  steadily  made 
them  on  its  own  responsibility.  Again  and  again  the 
House  was  dissolved;  new  elections  only  added  to  the  ma- 
jority of  the  opposition. 

The  Danish  war  in  1864  did  not  give  pause  to  the  Lib- 
erals. As  men,  they  felt  for  provinces  which  had  provoked 
the  rapacity  of  two  great  powers  ;  as  patriots,  they  saw  but 
little  glory  in  such  a  victory  of  the  national  arms.  The 
struggle  was  continued  with  fresh  bitterness.  All  the  ef- 
forts of  Bismarck  at  this  time  were  toward  the  final  conflict 


10  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

with  Austria.  In  the  diplomatic  struggle  at  Frankfort  his 
aim  throughout  was  not  only  to  assert  the  rights  of  Prussia 
in  the  confederation  against  the  annoyance  of  Austria,  but 
also  to  detach  from  the  latter  the  sympathy  and  support  of 
the  smaller  German  States.  By  enticing  Austria  into 
a  separate  alliance  with  Prussia  for  the  conquest  of  Schles- 
wig,  he  shook  or  hoped  to  shake  the  confidence  of  the 
smaller  States  in  their  Danubian  ally.  In  regard  to  inter- 
nal reforms  he  even  outbid  his  rival.  The  Austrian 
Ministry,  in  order  to  prolong  their  supremacy  in  the  con- 
federation, offered  to  establish  a  Congress  of  delegates  from 
the  different  States.  Prussia,  through  her  ]\Iinister,  took 
the  almost  revolutionary  step  of  proposing  an  electiye  na- 
tional parliament.  The  conquest  and  joint  occupation  of 
the  Duchies  was  a  measure  that  puzzled  everybody.  It 
was  made  in  the  face  of  three  great  hostile  powers,  Eng- 
land and  Russia,  which  were  connected  by  marriage,  and 
France,  which  was  connected  by  political  sympathy  with 
Denmark,  and  against  the  opposition  of  all  Liberals,  who 
saw  in  this  alliance  of  the  two  leading  German  States  the 
disappearance  of  all  hopes  for  a  Liberal,  united  Germany. 
This  is  perhaps  the  period  in  which  Bismarck's  sagacity 
and  firmness  as  a  statesman  were  most  severely  tried. 

His  views  at  the  time  are  clearly  stated  in  the  following 
dispatch  to  the  smaller  German  courts,  dated  March  24th, 
1866: 

"The  interests  of  Prussia  and  of  Germany,"  he  says, 
"  are  identical  from  their  geographical  position.  This  mat- 
ter concerns  our  advantage  as  well  as  that  of  Germany. 
If  we  are  not  sure  of  Germany,  then  our  situation  will  be 
more  endangered  than  that  of  the  other  European  States  ; 


PRINCE   BISMARCK.  II 

but  the  fate  of  Prussia  will  draw  that  of  Germany  after  it, 
and  we  do  not  doubt  that,  if  her  power  were  once  broken, 
Germany  would  only  retain  a  passive  share  in  European 
politics.  The  German  Governments  ought  all  to  consider 
it  a  sacred  duty  to  guard  against  this,  and  therefore  to  unite 
with  Prussia." 

This  reasoning  was  lost  on  the  Southern  powers.  When 
the  conflict  finally  came,  and  Prussia  and  Austria  met  at 
Sadowa,  nearly  all  the  pettyiGiermarL  princes  fought  and 
Jost  wkh  the  latter. 

The  peace  of  Prague  gave  the  conquered  provinces  of 
^hleswig. -to.  Prussia,  as  well  as  Hanover,  Hesse-Cassel, 
Nassau,  and  the  free  City  of  Frankfort  on  the  Main.  The 
NbftH  German  Confederation,  which  was  formed  on  the 
ruins  of  the  old  confederation,  included  Prussia,  the  States 
and  free  cities  of  the  Baltic  Coast,  and  Saxony,  Saxe- 
Weimar,  Brunswick,  Saxe-Coburg-Gotha,  and  Anhalt, 
while  the  remaining  States  organized  the  South  German 
Confederation.  By  the  same  peace,  Italy,  the  ally  of 
Prussia,  recovered  Venice  from  Austria  ;  while  the  Em- 
peror Napoleon,  who.  had  been  trying  to  obtain — first  from 
Prussia,  then  from  Austria — a  share  of  the  spoil,  was  a 
helpless  spectator  of  events. 

The  interval  from  the  Austrian  war  to  the  French  war — 
from  iSGG^tojSyo — was  one,  for  the  most,  of  peaceful  leg- 
islative reform.  Domestic  aff'airs  received  the  most  atten- 
tion, just  as  foreign  affairs  had  done  before  that  period. 
These,  of  course,  exacted  of  a  statesman  a  different  class  of 
qualities.  There  is  a  school  of  critics  who  pretend  that  Bis- 
marck, though  a  bold  and  astute  diplomatist,  fitted  to  cope 
with  giants  in  international  politics,  is  not  adapted  by  na- 


12  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

ture  or  training  for  the  more  humble  but  equally  import- 
ant details  of  home  legislation.  This  theory  is  worth  a 
moment's  examination. 

I  have  already  given  in  extracts  from  letters  the  reflec- 
tions which  the  Frankfort  Diet  inspired  in  Herr  von  Bis- 
marck. I  have  also  mentioned  his  sweeping  proposal,  in 
1866,  to  concede  the  German  people  a  national  representa- 
tive parliament,  as  a  means  of  satisfying  the  Democratic 
aspiration  of  the  people,  and  of  cementing  the  proposed 
German  Union.  When  the  constituent  Parliament  of  the 
North  German  Confederation  met,  and  not  before,  Bis- 
marck, now  become  Count  Bismarck,  had  an  opportunity 
to  try  the  experiment.  The  First  National  Parliament  of 
Germany  was  called  into  being.  The  other  great  measure 
of  unification  was  the  re-establishment,  with  improved  mod- 
ifications, of  the  Zollverein.  A  common  parliament  and  a 
common  tariff  were  held  to  be  the  two  chief  pillars  of 
unity.  The  latter  institution,  too,  was  extended  to  the 
South  German  States.  Throughout  this  period  Count 
Bismarck  appeared  to  good  advantage.  He  was  in  the 
prime  of  life,  he  had  conquered  his  previous  unpopularity, 
a  good  feeling  subsisted  between  court,  ministry,  and  ma- 
jority, and  the  work  of  internal  reform  proceeded  for  the 
most  part  smoothly.  The  only  sharp  debates  were  over 
the  relations  of  the  North  German  States  to  the  Northern 
Confederation  ;  and  here  Bismarck  was  often  forced  to 
check  the  zeal  of  Liberals,  who  would  have  driven  those 
States  into  an  unwilling  union.  No  man  was  more  thor- 
oughly and  effectively  a  German,  but  he  saw  that,  at  some 
date,  the  force  of  circumstances  would  effect  a  more  durable 
union  than  any  act  of  legislation. 


PRINCE   BISMARCK.  1 3 

Prince  Bismarck  has  gained  such  an  extraordinary  posi- 
tion in  the  field  of  diplomacy  and  general  politics,  that  to  his 
position  as  a  leader  in  legislation  is  awarded  a  minor  im- 
portance. But  he  would  have  won  no  insignificant  rank 
even  as  a  private  and  untitled  member.  A  great  orator, 
indeed,  he  is  not,  and  would  in  no  circumstances  become. 
Not  to  mention  other  defects,  he  wants  imagination,  the 
power  of  pathos,  real  or  counterfeit,  grace  or  art  of  man- 
ner, an  effective  voice,  and  a  ready  utterance.  Without 
these,  or  some  of  these  qualities,  oratory,  even  of  the  sec- 
ond rank,  is  impossible.  But  without  accepting  Earl 
Russell's  theory,  that  eloquence  has  no  influence  on  par- 
liamentary leadership,  it  is  easy  to  show  from  history  that 
the  two  are  by  no  means  inseparable.  Such  qualities  as 
fit  one  for  power  in  an  assembly,  independently  of  elo- 
quence. Prince  Bismarck  conspicuously  possesses.  He  can 
persuade  or  command  with  equal  skill  and  equal  efi"ect  ; 
but  he  is,  moreover,  a  debater  of  no  ordinary  accomplish- 
ments. He  has  a  resolution  which  wins  respect,  if  not 
obedience,  and  which,  with  a  little  less-military  imperious- 
ness,  would  be  wonderfully  effective.  He  is  witty  and 
humoraus  above  most  t»f  his  countrymen.  He  is  always 
'concise  and  forcible.  His  delivery  is  somewhat  slow  and 
hesitating,  so  that  his  speeches  read  as  well  as  they  sound  ; 
but  they  may  be  studied  as  models  of  exact,  logical  lan- 
guage. His  faculty  of  condensing  a  plan  or  a  policy  into 
an  epigram  is  so  well  known,  that  I  shall  surely  be  par- 
doned for  citing  such  phrases  as:  "The  battles  of  this 
generation  are  to  be  fought  out  with  iron  and  blood,"  or, 
"  We  shall  not  go  to  Canossa,"  which  has  been  adopted 
into  the  popular  heart.     And,  finally.  Prince  Bismarck  has 


14  BRIEF   BIOGRAnilES. 

the  valuable  art  of  keeping  silent  when  it  is  inexpedient  to 
speak. 

Of  himself  Bismarck  once  said  :  "I  am  no  orator.  .  .  . 
I  am  not  capable  of  working  upon  your  feelings  or  obscur- 
ing facts  with  a  play  of  words.  ]\Iy  speech  is  simple  and 
clear. " 

The  following  description  is  more  just  : 

"There  is  no  charm  of  speech,  no  fullness  of  expression 
in  him,  nothing  to  carry  away  the  hearer.  His  voice, 
though  clear  and  intelligible,  is  dry  and  unattractive,  and 
its  tone  is  monotonous.  He  interrupts  himself ;  comes 
to  a  standstill,  and  sometimes  almost  stammers,  as  if  his 
refractory  tongue  refused  obedience,  and  he  had  to  strug- 
gle painfully  for  the  right  way  of  expressing  his  thoughts  ; 
his  restless  movements  backwards  and  forwards  do  not  at 
all  add  to  the  impression  produced  by  his  words.  But 
the  longer  he  speaks,  the  more  he  overcomes  all  difficul- 
ties ;  he  succeeds  in  fitting  his  words  to  his  thoughts  in 
the  closest  manner,  and  ends  by  throwing  out  powerful 
invectives,  which,  as  we  know,  are  often  too  powerful." 

It  does  not  fall  within  the  province  of  the  writer  to  pass 
judgment  on  the  dispute  between  Prussia  and  France,  nor 
do  our  limits  allow  even  a  recapitulation  of  the  leading 
events.  That  a  war  with  France  had  always  been  regarded 
by  Bismarck  as  an  inevitable  condition  of  the  future  Ger- 
man Empire  may  confidently  be  affirmed,  as  well  as  that 
his  foreign  policy  had  steadily  kept  that  fact  in  view.  Beyond 
that,  statesmanship  retired  before  the  army.  When  Bis- 
marck had  become  assured  of  the  fidelity  of  his  South 
German  allies,  of  the  non-intervention  of  Russia,  and  of 
the  impotence  of  Austria,   England,   and    Italy,    he   was 


PRINCE   BISMARCK.  I  5 

ready  for  the  war.     The  course  of  events  was  marvelously 
in  accordance  with  his  previous  plans. 

Bismarck  accompanied  the  army  throughout  the  war 
until  the  final  capitulation  at  Versailles.  The  direction 
of  military  affairs  he  left  wholly  to  the  soldiers,  and  took 
an  active  part  only  in  the  settlement  of  political  questions. 
He  himself  has  given  an  account  of  a  characteristic  camp 
scene  after  the  battle  of  Gravelotte,  when  he  was  sitting 
with  the  King  on  a  ladder  supported  by  a  barrel  and  a 
horse's  carcass,  composing  the  telegram  with  the  news  of 
the  victory  :  "A  telegraph  official  handed  me  his  dispatch 
book,  and  then  stood  behind  me,  holding  his  horse.  His 
IMajesty  dictated,  I  wrote.  Thinking  that  a  little  mousseux 
de  Champagne  was  advisable  for  the  benefit  of  foreign  coun- 
tries, I  had  allowed  myself  to  add  a  few  embellishments  to. 
the  telegram.  But  the  modesty  of  our  Royal  Master,  who 
always  holds  sternly  to  the  plainest  truth,  would  not  tol- 
erate this.  In  a  second  telegram  the  result  of  the  victory 
was  reduced  to  the  barest  limits.  Then  Moltke  interfered, 
and  also  Roon,  because  certain  errors  had  slipped  into 
the  military  estimates.  At  last  the  fourth  telegram  was 
correct,  and  the  official  dashed  off  to  the  office  with 
it." 

He  has  also  left  accounts  of  the  capitulation  of  Sedan, 
which  have  a  biographical  as  well  as  an  historical  value. 
The  crowning  event  of  his  life,  the  proclamation  of  the 
German  Empire  at  Versailles,  on  the  i8th  day  of  January, 
1871,  wanted  no  element  of  picturesque  effect,  of  histori- 
cal solemnity,  or  of  political  significance.  The  prelimi- 
nar^treaty  of  peace  was  ratified  by  the  French  Assembly 
on  the  ist  of  March.     On  the  21st  of  the  same  month, 


l6  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

Count   von  Bismarck   became  Prince  von  Bismarck  and 
Chancellor  of  the  German  Empire. 

The  French  war,  like  the  Austrian,  introduced  a  new 
order  of  things,  to  which  it  was  necessary  to  adjust  the 
civil  and  political  machinery  ;  and  it  has  been  followed  by 
a  course  of  domestic  legislation  extending  to  the  present 
time.  Most  of  this  could  have  but  little  interest  for  for- 
eign observers.  On  the  21st  of  March,  1871,  the  First 
Imperial  Parliament  of  Germany — Deutscher  Reichstag — 
met  in  Berlin,  and  was  opened  by  the  Emperor  in  person. 
The  new  Constitution  was  proclaimed  on  the  i6th  of 
April.  In  the  fall  of  1872,  in  consequence  of  ill-health 
and  dissatisfaction  with  the  adjustment  of  works,  Prince 
Bismarck  resigned  the  presidency  of  the  Prussian  cabinet, 
which  was  temporarily  assigned  to  the  Minister  of  War, 
Roon.  The  next  spring,  Roon  retired  from  political  life  and 
Bismarck  resumed  his  old  place,  with  a  vice-president  to 
relieve  him  of  routine  work.  In  the  winter  of  1874,  again, 
he  sent  in  his  resignation  on  account  of  a  partial  defeat  in 
the  Reichstag  over  the  new  army  bill.  A  compromise  was 
effected,  however,  and  the  Prince  remained  at  his  post. 
The  important,  nay,  indispensable  character  of  his  services 
to  Germany  was  shown  by  the  widespread  consternation 
produced  by  the  rumor  of  retirement.  His  enemies  allege 
that  his  original  infirmities  of  temper  have  been  aggravated 
by  age  and  prolonged  power.  It  is  certain  that  he  is  very 
impatient  under  opposition  and  defeat. 

By  far  the  most  important  enterprise  in  which  this  active 
statesman  has  engaged  since  the  French  war,  is  the  cam- 
paign against  the  power  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in 
Germany.     While   the  result  is  still  pending,  it  would  be 


PRINCE   BISMARCK.  1 7 

premature  to  write  the  history  of  that  conflict.  '  Enough, 
that  the  proclamation  of  infalHbiUty  and  the  re-organization 
of  the  German  Empire  so  affected  the  relation  between 
Pope  and  Kaiser,  that  in  the  opinion  of  Prince  Bismarck, 
— which  the  Emperor  and  the  great  mass  of  liberal  Germans 
share, — a  new  adjustment,  which  should  secure  the  State 
greater  freedom  of  action,  and  more  ample  means  of  self- 
defense,  had  become  imperatively  necessary.  This  was  a 
mixed  Prussian  and  Imperial  movement ;  and  both  govern- 
ments, always,  of  course,  under  Bismarck's  guidance,  have 
taken  legislative  steps  in  the  premises.  The  issue,  as  we 
have  said,  is  still  open.  Both  parties  are  confident  of  final 
victory  ;  but  it  cannot  be  questioned,  that  the  undertaking 
on  the  part  of  the  Chancellor  was  one  of  the  most  extreme 
danger,  and  was  sure  to  encounter  the  most  formidable 
obstacles. 

The  adoption  of  this  policy  threw  Prince  Bismarck  into 
a  closer  alliance  with  his  old  foes  the  Liberals,  though  his 
measures  of  home  reform,  since  1866,  had  generally  enjoyed 
the  support  of  that  faction.  In  these  later  years,  the  old 
extreme  Conser\-atives  have  been  his  most  bitter  opponents. 
This  vast  revolution  in  Bismarck's  political  opinions — and 
one  more  vast  than  from  the  old  Junker  reactionists  to  the 
Prussian  Liberals  can  hardly  be  imagined — is  orue  of  the 
facts  in  his  later  career  that  have  most  invited  the  inquiry 
of  critics.  He  represents  in  himself,  in  fact,  two  distinct 
phases  or  stages  of  a  political  career,  and  is  admired  from 
two  quite  different  points  of  departure.  He  is  at  once  a 
Prussian  statesman  and  a  German,  and  his  course  in  the 
former  capacity  is  often  irreconcilable  with  that  in  the  lat- 
ter.    Where  the  latter  begins,  the  former  seems  to  end. 


l8  BRIEF  BIOGRAPHIES. 

Where  the  old  school  of  Prussians  cease  to  celebrate  and 
abandon  him  as  a  renegade,  there  the  great  German  nation 
takes  him  up  and  makes  him  an  Imperial  hero.  Even  the 
Krenz  Zeiiung,  the  ultra  Conservative  organ,  eulogizes  him 
up  to  Sadowa,  up  to  the  fatal  hour  in  which,  returning  a 
patrician  conqueror,  like  Coriolanus,  he  made  the  fatal 
compromise  with  the  spirit  of  plebeian  Liberalism,  It  is 
sure  that  it  would  have  been  better  for  him  to  have  fallen 
on  the  plains  of  Bohemia.  When  it  warns  the  admirers 
of  the  Chancellor  to  be  discreet  and  moderate  in  their 
tributes,  it  means  that  the  path  of  commendation  is  clear 
only  to  1866,  and  after  that  loses  itself  rapidly  in  the  wil- 
derness. This  being  the  case,  it  would  seem  that  the  con- 
verse must  be  true,  and  that  the  period  hallowed  by  the 
Reactionists  must  be  odious  to  Liberals.  It  is,  of  course, 
easy,  by  selecting  isolated  expressions,  oral  or  written, 
from  a  man's  history,  to  convict  him  of  almost  any  shade  of 
political  or  other  doctrine  ;  but  the  diligent  collection  and 
ingenious  arrangement  of  such  passages  has  never,  perhaps, 
been  regarded  with  favor  by  the  better  class  of  philoso- 
phers. The  same  holds  true,  of  course,  with  regard  to 
Prince  Bismarck.  To  attempt  to  make  him  out  a  Liberal 
in  disguise  from  1862  to  1866,  because  in  letters  he  now 
and  then  expresses  no  abhorrence  of  Parliaments,  is  hard 
work  in  the  face  of  the  events  of  that  period.  This  line 
of  treatment  is  not  complimentary  to  the  Prince  himself. 
He  himself  has  often  publicly  explained  that  since  1866, 
and  gradually,  changes  in  his  political  opinion  have  taken 
place,  and  he  has  gloried  in  this  elasticity.  He  calls  it 
adapting  one's  self  to  circumstances,  and  again  a  growth  in 
wisdom  and  experience.     This  honorable  flexibility,  he  has 


PRINCE   BISMARCK.  I9 

said,  distinguishes  him  from  his  old  Conservative  friends 
— from  Gerlach,  for  instance.  If  Bismarck  was  always  a 
Liberal,  so  was  Gerlach  ;  or,  on  the  other  hand,  if  Bis- 
marck has  not  changed  since  1866,  he  is  to-day  an  intoler- 
ant Junker  like  Gerlach.  The  biographical  test  applied  to 
practical  politics  is  always  one  of  the  most  treacherous  and 
least  useful. 

It  is,  too,  a  striking  illustration  of  Prince  Bismarck's 
change  of  party  relations,  that  he  has  provoked  not  only 
the  enmity,  but  the  cowardly  vengeance  of  two  different 
political  factions.  Two  attempts  on  his  life  have  been 
ma.de.  The  first  was  in  1866,  on  the  7th  of  March,  by  one 
Blind,  an  adopted  son  of  the  well-known  philanthropist 
and  radical,  Carl  Blind,  One  or  two  of  the  shots  grazed 
the  clothes  of  Bismarck  ;  but  he  had  the  coolness  to  seize 
his  assailant  and  deliver  him  over  to  the  police,  after  which 
he  walked  home  and  took  part  in  a  dinner  party  which  he 
had  appointed.  The  second  attempted  assassination  was 
in  1874,  at  Kissingen,  in  Bavaria,  the  villain,  this  time, 
being  an  Ultramon  ane  fanatic,  named  Kullman.  On  this 
occasion,  too,  the  Prince  was  but  slightly  bruised  in  the 
hand  by  the  bullet  that  was  aimed  at  his  heart. 

Prince  Bismarck  may  be  called  the  founder  of  Prussian 
diplomacy.  At  his  advent  that  branch  of  the  public  ser- 
vice was  chiefly  in  the  hands  of  dull-  country  gentlemen, 
who  were  unfitted  as  well  for  the  daily  routine  as  for  the 
occasional  adventure,  which  are  both  in  their  time  de- 
manded ;  and  they  fell  now  into  the  hands  of  Nicholas  of 
Russia,  now  of  Metternich.  Goethe  was  by  no  means 
a  political  satirist,  but  he  makes  the  Chancellor  say,  in 
the   second  part  of   "Faust,"  that   the   priests   and    the 


20  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

knights,  Church  and  Army,  are  the  two  chief  props  of 
State.  In  a  theory  not  essentially  different  from  this  the 
Prussian  people  were  educated.  Accordingly,  the  profes- 
sion of  diplomacy  long  held  a  low  rank  there.  In  so  far 
as  the  opposition  of  the  military  class  was  the  natural  op- 
position of  brave  and  straightforward  men  to  a  service 
which  is  too  often  associated  with  trickeiy  and  falsehood, 
the  feeling  was  respectable.  Unfortunately  it  did  not  end' 
there,  nor  was  this  its  true  basis.  It  sprang  out  of  the 
narrow  contempt  felt  by  all  Prussian  soldiers  for  civil  occu- 
pations, and  was  stimulated  by  jealousy  for  a  service  which  is 
becoming  such  a  powerful  and  indispensable  servant  of  the 
State.  Bismarck  himself  first  gave  the  example  of  an 
active  diplomatist,  and  afterward,  becoming  Premier,  he 
made  his  example  the  rule  of  the  service.  He  cemented 
the  Italian  alliance  and  threw  dust  in  the  eyes  of  France, 
while  the  army  was  fighting  in  Bohemia  ;  he  kept  Russia 
firm  and  friendly,  while  the  Second  Empire  was  going 
down  under  the  charge  of  Moltke's  legions.  The  Prince 
himself  once  described  modestly  his  own  services  in  the 
late  war.  It  was  on  the  eve  of  a  great  victory,  and  men 
were  flocking  around  to  congratulate  him.  He  said,  "  I 
know  nothing  about  strategy  or  the  science  of  war.  Let 
Moltke  and  the  army  have  the  credit.  But  you  have  seen 
Bavarians  to-day  on  the  field.  Well,  the  presence  of  the 
Bavarians  and  other  South  Germans  here,  fighting  with 
you,  and  not  on  the  other  side,  is  my  work. " 

The  case  of  Bismarck  has  sometimes  been  cited  against 
the  value  of  professional  training  for  politicians.  He  ap- 
peared so  suddenly  on  the  field  of  European  events,  and 
assumed  at  once  such  a  commanding  position,   that  many 


PRINCE   BISMARCK.      "  21 

have  treated  him  as  a  prodigy  in  whom  inspiration  might 
almost  be  assumed.  The  premises  here  are  as  false  as  the 
inference  from  them  is  pernicious.  It  is  true  that  no 
amount  of  study  will  wholly  supply  the  place  of  natural 
genius  or  talent,  but  it  is  true  also  that  simple  genius  with- 
out training  and  discipline,  is  often  credited  with  achieve- 
ments that  it  never  performs.  Otto  von  Bismarck  is  one 
of  the  most  distinct  results  of  thorough  political  educa- 
tion. His  whole  career  previous  to  entering  the  Prussian 
IMinistry,  was  one  of  study  and  preparation.  At  the  gym- 
nasium he  acquired  control  of  the  English  and  French 
languages  ;  and  throughout  his  career  they  have  served 
him  in  many  a  diplomatic  crisis.  At  the  university,  he 
was  a  profound  and  philosophical  student  of  history,  partic- 
ularly that  of  his  own  country ;  and  even  to-day,  in  Parlia- 
mentary debates,  he  often  astonishes  his  colleagues  by  his 
mastery  of  such  details.  While  he  was  at  Frankfort,  his 
letters  show  that  he  prized  the  position  chiefly  for  the  ex- 
perience and  the  valuable  lessons  that  it  afforded  him. 
At  St.  Petersburg  there  is  but  one  report  of  his  behavior. 
He  lived  in  frugal  style  and  gave  few  entertainments,  but 
devoted  himself  assiduously  to  study  and  inquiry,  and 
even  became  quite  a  proficient  in  the  Russian  language. 
These  occupations  did  not  give  him  notoriety,  but  they 
were  not  quite  profitless.  When  in  1862  he  assumed  the 
direction  of  Prussian  affairs,  he  brought  to  the  duties  a  ripe 
experience,  a  familiarity  with..the  languages  and  habits  and 
politics  of  other  nations,  the  resources  of  a  mind  which 
had  never  ceased  to  acquire  arid  assimulate  useful  knowl- 
edge, and  habits  of  industry  which  have  since  astonished  all 
Europe.  This  and  nothing  else  is  the  secret  inspiration 
of  the  great  German  statesman. 


PART  II. 

The  Ministers. 


II. 
Dr.  Falk. 


HE  title  prefixed  to  this  gentleman's  name  is  a 
scholastic,  not  a  professional  one.  Nothing  is 
more  strange  than  the  popular  German  regard  for 
this  distinction,  except,  perhaps,  the  capricious  way  in 
which  it  cUngs  to  some  men  till  it  becomes  almost  an  insep- 
arable part  of  their  names,  while  with  others  it  is  and  re- 
mains an  alien  intruder.  Bismarck,  for  instance,  is  a  Doc- 
tor of  Philosophy  honoris  causa,  and  always  figures  as  such 
in  books  of  record,  but  "  Dr.  Bismarck"  is  unknown  to 
the  public.  Forckenbeck,  the  present  president  of  the 
Reichstag,  is  never  m.entioned  with  the  "Doctor's"  title; 
his  predecessor,  Simson,  never  without  it.  The  rising 
young  politician  who  stands  at  the  head  of  the  Ministry  of 
Public  Worship  and  Education,  Herr  Adalbert  Falk,  is  one 
to  whom  it  is  always  applied  by  universal  public  consent. 
Measured  by  the  duration  of  his  actual  political  service, 
Dr.  Falk  is,  indeed,  very  young.  Since  the  winter  of  1872, 
he  has  been  a  minister  with  an  independent  portfolio  ; 


26  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

previous  to  that,  he  was  a  bureau  official  without  the  right 
of  initiating  measures.      These  distinctions  in  the  official 
hierarchy  are  less  rigid  elsewhere  than  in  Prussia,  and  much 
less  so  in  the  United  States,  for  instance,  where  the  caprice 
of  favoritism  may  defy  the  rules  of  prescription  ;  but  in 
Prussia  they  are  of  the  greatest  consequence.       The  rule  is 
that  the  bureaucrat  lives  and  dies  as  such.     Promotion  for 
him  is  only  within  the  bounds  of  his  clerical  domain,  and 
only  an  exception  lifts  him  out  into  the  region  of  minis- 
terial independence.     It  is  no  uncommon  thing  to  read  in 
the  press  of  some  veterau  celebrating  the  fiftieth  anniversary 
of  his  entry  into  the  public  service.      Haifa  century  in  the 
life  of  such  a  man  has  consumed  perhaps  a  barrel  of  ink, 
several  tons  of  paper,  and  quills  enough  to  thatch  the  roof 
of  the  royal  castle.       He  has  sworn   allegiance   to  three 
kings   and   put   tallow  candles  in  his  window  for  two  or 
three  successful  wars.     The  revenues  of  the  kingdom  for  a 
twelvemonth  could  not  tempt  his  official  integrity.     Be- 
ginning at  a  tall  desk  and  standing,  he  passes  thence  to  a 
three  legged  stool  ;  next,   to  a  wooden  chair  ;  and  finally 
to  a  chair  with  a  cushion  ;  and  here  he  remains  on  a  sal- 
ary of  two  or  three  thousand  thalers  a  year,  till,  in  his  de- 
clining days,  he  is  retired  on  a  modest  pension.     These  are 
the  men,  and  this  is  the  system  that  make  up  the  bureau- 
cratic government  of  Prussia. 

By  superior  ability  or  superior  fortune,  Adalbert  Falk 
escaped  from  this  career  of  routine.  He  was  born 
in  the  year  1827  at  Metschkau,  in  Silesia.  His  father, 
a  clergyman  and  member  of  the  provincial  consistory, 
belonged  to  the  Schleiermacher  school  of  liberal  theol- 
ogy ;  but  on  the   arrival   of  an  era  of  doctrinal  reaction 


DR.    FALK.  27 

under  the  orthodox  King,  Frederic  William  IV.,  he 
fell  into  disfavor,  and  retired  to  a  country  parish.  Like 
so  many  of  the  so-called  "  liberal  theologians,"  the  elder 
Falk  did  not,  I  believe,  extend  his  liberalism  into  politics. 
The  meager  salarj'  of  a  "  Landpastor  "  did  not  prevent  the 
son  from  pursuing  the  ordinary  educational  course  of  Ger- 
man youth.  He  studied-  first  in  the  "  Realschule  "  of 
Landeshut,  then  at  a  gymnasium  in  Breslan,  and  finally 
at  the  university  of  the  latter  city.  This  is  one  of  the  tvi^o 
Prussian  universities  that  have  a  Catholic  faculty  in  theol- 
ogy, side  by  side  with  the  Protestant.  In  1847,  he  began 
his  legal  career,  which  in  Prussian  usage  is  treated  almost 
as  a  state  charge  ;  in  1850,  he  became  an  assistant  of  the 
Public  Prosecutor  in  Breslau  ;  in  1853,  chief  of  this  office 
at  Lyck  ;  in  1861,  he  assumed  the  same  functions  before 
the  Kammergericht,  or  Superior  Court,  with  duties  in  the 
Ministry  of  Justice  ;  in  1862,  Judge  of  the  Court  of  Ap- 
peals at  Glogau  ;  and  in  1868,  he  was  permanently  assigned 
as  Privy  Councillor,  or  Geheimeralh,  to  the  Ministry  of  Jus- 
tice. Bismarck  was  Premier,  and  the  Minister  of  Justice, 
Dr.  Leonhardt,  was  one  of  the  first  fruits  of  the  new  policy  of 
preferring  able  plebeians  to  incapable  nobles  for  public 
office. 

It  may  be  said  in  explanation  of  Dr.  Falk's  rapid  rise  in 
the  official  scale,  that  it  was  a  time  of  reform  and  experi- 
ment, when  inventive  genius  was  prized.  A  fresh  man 
and  a  practical  lawyer  was  likely  to  be  more  fertile  in  ideas 
and  suggestions  than  one  whose  brain  had  become  inert 
from  prolonged  routine.  The  newly-annexed  provinces 
exacted  new  conditions  of  the  national  jurisprudence, 
while  the  North  German  Confederation  called  for  an  entire 


28  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

system  of  imperial  laws.  In  this  work  of  codification  and 
drafting  Dr.  Falk  was  one  of  the  most  efficient.  But  soon 
he  was  assigned  to  a  task  of  quite  a  different  character. 
The  conflict  with  the  Church  had  broken  out ;  the  Prus- 
sian Government  determined  on  a  course  of  repressive  or 
defensive  legislation  ;  and,  after  casting  his  eyes  about  for 
the  proper  man,  Bismarck  fixed  on  Dr.  Falk.  From  this 
point  most  of  the  political  interest  in  this  gentleman  dates. 
In  order,  however,  to  understand  the  subject,  a  passing 
acquaintance  is  necessary  with  the  order  of  events,  which 
led  to  the  retirement  of  Dr.  Von  Miihler  from  the  "  Cul- 
tus  "  Ministry,  and  to  the  vast  change  of  policy  that  retire- 
ment in  itself  alone  implied. 

Up  to  the  year  1817,  there  was  in  Prussia  no  Ministry  of 
Public  Worship  and  Education.  Those  subjects  had  been 
assigned  to  bureaus  in  the  Ministry  of  the  Interior  and 
placed  in  charge  of  subordinate  officials  ;  but  in  1817,  the 
king  created  a  special  department  and  placed  Baron 
Altenstein  at  the  head  of  it.  He  was  a  faithful  officer  and 
a  prudent  statesman.  Without  any  meddlesome  theories 
on  theology,  he  worked  in  a  practical  way  for  educational 
reform,  and  to  him,  as  much  as  to  any  one  man,  Prussia  is 
indebted  for  her  common  schools.  The  successors  of 
Altenstein,  among  whom  Eichhorn  and  Stahl  were  the 
most  eminent,  made  themselves  notorious,  not  to  say 
odious,  by  their  hostility  to  the  cause  of  natural  science, 
which  they  systematically  repressed  at  the  command  cf  a 
dictatorial  theology.  Protestants  though  they  were,  they 
preferred  the  sublime  dogmatism  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  to  the  daring  results  of  physical  investigation. 
Accordingly,  the  Catholics  made  grave  advances  along  the 


Lm  Angeltt.  tal' 

DR.    FALK.  29 

whole  line  of  social,  educational,  and  political  interests. 
Under  Raumer,  a  nephew  of  the  great  historian,  and  Holl- 
weg,  things  were  no  better.  The  Church,  or  the  ecclesias- 
tical element,  wielded  paramount  authority  in  the  public 
councils. 

This  brings  us  to  the  first  Cabinet  of  Bismarck  in  1862, 
and  his  Minister  of  Public  Worship,  Dr.  Von  Miihler. 
He  is  the  last  representative  of  the  old  spirit.  A  learned, 
austere,  and  conscientious  man,  he  held  the  most  exalted 
theories  of  ecclesiastical  prerogative,  of  the  claims  of 
birth,  of  divine  right ;  and  the  policy  adopted  toward  the 
Church  of  Rome  after  the  close  of  the  French  war,  met 
his  opposition  from  the  first.  He  was  the  reluctant  agent 
of  resistance  to  two  of  the  earlier  and  more  flagrant  of- 
fences of  the  Catholic  clergy.  He  conducted  for  the  gov- 
ernment the  correspondence  with  Dr.  Krementz,  the 
obstinate  and  disobedient  bishop  of  Ermeland.  He  sanc- 
tioned the  removal  of  the  Catholic  Chaplain  General, 
whom  the  Pope,  in  violation  of  legal  forms,  had  endowed 
with  the  rank  and  functions  of  a  bishop.  Farther  than 
this  Von  Miihler  could  not  go  ;  and  when  he  heard  that 
general  laws,  covering  all  such  cases  as  the  above,  were  in 
preparation,  he  resigned  his  office  and  retired  from  public 
life.  On  the  22d  of  January,  1872,  he  was  succeeded  by 
Dr,„Falk. 

The  new  minister  was  welcomed  by  the  Provinzial  Cor- 
respondenz,  a  weekly  organ  of  the  government,  in  the  fol- 
lowing words  :  "  This  ministerial  change  is  an  expression 
of  the  necessity,  recognized  by  the  crown,  that  the  power 
of  the  State  in  religion  and  educational  affairs  be  wielded 
ty  a  spirit  which  offers  guaranties  of  complete  indepen- 


30  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

dence  and  rectitude,  as  well  as  of  the  earnest  purpose  to 
vindicate  both  the  inalienable  rights  of  the  State,  and  the 
just  claims  of  moral  and  spiritual  interests."  This  was  by 
no  means  a  revolutionary  programme.  The  significant 
hint  about  the  acquiescence  of  the  crown,  was  at  the  same 
time  a  species  of  pledge,  that  the  course  of  innovation 
would  not  exceed  the  patience  of  a  prudent,  pious,  and 
orthodox  monarch. 

The  first  reform  proposed  by  the  new  minister,  was  re- 
ceived by  the  Liberal  party  and  the  Ecclesiastical  party  in 
a  widely  different  spirit.  The  Liberals  called  it  :  "Saving 
the  Common  School  System  of  Prussia."  The  Church- 
men, both  Catholic  and  Protestant,  said  it  was  "The  sur- 
render of  the  schools  to  Materialism  and  Infidelity."  In 
both  phases,  as  in  partisan  statements  is  generally  tlie  case, 
there  is  a  palpable  exaggeration,  as  well  as  an  element  of 
truth.  The  schools  of  Prussia  were  half  a  century  old. 
They  had  proved  themselves,  on  the  whole,  the  most  effi- 
cient in  Europe  ;  and  their  fruits,  by  which  they  are  chiefly 
to  be  known,  were  part  of  every  achievement  in  letters  or 
science,  part  of  every  victory  in  war.  Their  scope  was 
unquestionably  narrow,  and  their  spirit  timid  in  the  ex- 
treme. They  were  more  distinguished,  perhaps,  for  the 
method  and  the  discipline  which  produced  an  educated 
people,  than  for  the  freedom  and  breadth  of  treatment 
which  develop  original  genius.  But  the  correction  of  faults 
cannot  always  be  called  the  salvation  of  the  subject.  The 
modifications  made  by  Dr.  Falk's  bill,  which  aimed,  by 
reducing  the  controlling  influence  of  the  clerical  element, 
tc  give  the  schools  a  more  secular  character,  and  to  strike 
at  one  great  source  of  strength  in  the  Catholic  Church, 


DR.    FALK.  31 

were  just  and  expedient,  and  they  have  our  cordial  sympa- 
thy ;  but  it  is  not  easy  to  recognize  a  revolution  in  their 
modest  provisions.  The  complaints  of  the  Ultramontanes, 
on  the  other  hand,  were  both  extravagant  and  absurd.  To 
cut  the  lower  schools  loose  from  the  leading  strings  of  a 
jealous  and  bigoted  ecclesiasticism,  and  to  put  them  in  the 
hands  of  men  selected  only  on  a  scientific  basis,  would  not 
have  been  a  surrender  to  infidelity  and  Atheism.  But  the 
government  did  not  go  even  so  far  as  this.  It  simply  re- 
sumed that  active  supervision,  which  the  constitution 
claimed  for  the  State,  but  which .  had  ceased  to  be  more 
than  an  empty  form.  The  State  dia  not  affirm  that  thence- 
forth the  teachers  should  be  required  to  abjure  the  INIosaic 
account  of  creation,  nor  did  it  aim  at  excluding  religious 
instruction  at  all  from  the  curriculum.  Public  opinion  is 
not  ripe  for  that  in  Prussia.  The  aim  of  the  bill,  in  short, 
was  to  shut  out  of  the  schools  teachers  who  were  not,  first 
and  absolutely,  servants  of  the  State  and  loyal.  As  laws 
must  be  general,  this  one,  of  course,  curtailed  the 
authority  of  the  Protestant  as  well  as  of  the  Catholic 
clergy. 

The  defence  of  this  bill  was,  also,  the  occasion  of  Dr. 
Falk's  d'ebui  as  a  parliamentary  leader.  It  was  by  no  means 
his  first  parliamentary  experience.  He  had  sat  in  the 
Prussian  House  of  Deputies  from  1858  to  1861,  in  the 
Constituent  North  Q^xmasv  Reichstag  in  1867,  and  he  had 
been  a  member  of  the  Imperial  Parliament  from  the  first. 
At  one  time  he  was  Clerk  or  Secretary  of  the  House.  In 
these  days,  however,  he  was  mainly  a  silent  member,  and 
won  only  the  modest  renown  of  punctual  attendance.  It 
was,  therefore,   with   some   curiosity   that   the   politicians 


32  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

awaited  the  first  appearance  of  the  new  minister.  Although 
the  Liberals,  his  friends,  were  largely  in  the  majority  in  the 
Lower  Chamber,  the  opposition  numbered  many  practised 
debators,  who,  as  the  servants  of  an  infallible  spiritual  mas- 
ter, were  apparently  placed  above  those  restraints  of  mod- 
eration, courtesy,  and  truthfulness,  which  apply  in  secular 
relations.  Mallinckrodt  and  Windthorst  and  Reichensper- 
ger  were  amply  endowed  with  means  and  inspired  with 
zeal  for  the  defence  of  a  hopeless  cause.  They  made  a 
prodigal  use  of  invective,  in  the  name  of  a  Church  which 
teaches  the  virtue  of  humility  and  forbearance.  They  led 
their  hearers  into  tortuous  mazes  of  sophistry ;  they 
wrapped  the  subject  in  clouds  of  paltry  fallacies,  at  the  com- 
mand of  bishops  whose  gospel  is  light.  They  seemed,  in 
fact,  to  imitate  the  manners  of  Santa  Clara,  and  the  dialec- 
tics of  Schiller's  Domingo. 

The  subject  of  these  debates,  too,  was  of  the  most  com- 
prehensive, intricate,  and  recondite  description.  It  in- 
cluded Church  histor}'  from  the  Fathers  to  the  council  of 
the  Vatican  ;  dogmas,  decrees,  and  encyclical  letters  ;  the 
theology  of  politics  and  the  politics  of  theology.  Examples 
ranged  between  the  extremes  of  an  Emperor  who  knelt  at 
the  feet  of  a  triumphant  Pope,  and  of  a  Pope  who  was  im- 
prisoned at  the  command  of  a  military  dictator.  Invective 
was  turned  now  upon  the  tyranny  and  violence  of  princes 
whom  the  Church  would  have  purified,  and  now  upon  the 
annals  of  a  spiritual  throne,  which  has  been  disgraced  by 
the  vilest  men  and  the  gravest  crimes.  It  was  no  uncommon 
thing  to  see  an  afternoon  spent  on  an  obscure  feature  of  a 
Council  of  Trent  or  of  Nice.  The  Ultramontanes  in  par- 
ticular were  fond  of  theological  and  canonical  disputes,  on 


DR.    FALK.  33 

\vhich  they  were,  of  course,  better  informed,  and  in  which 
they  could  parade  ad populum  panoramic  stores  of  learning. 
Yox  any  sudden  manoeuvre  of  the  foe  over  this  vast  field  of 
action,  the  Liberals  were  bound  to  be  prepared. 

To  meet  the  necessities  of  such  a  campaign  against  such 
valiant  soldiers,  the  government  had  indeed  a  variety  of 
leaders.  The  chief  of  the  National  Liberals,  Lasker,  a 
fluent  and  popular  orator,  spoke  for  the  great  middle  class 
represented  by  the  Left,  in  the  language  of  a  philosophical 
patriot.  Dr.  Gneist  treated  the  legal  issues  in  the  style 
and  with  the  authority  of  a  professional  jurist.  The 
helmet  of  Bismarck,  like  the  white  plume  of  Harry 
of  Navarre,  was  always  seen  where  the  fray  was  thickest. 
But  the  brunt  of  the  struggle — the  original  vindication, 
the  patient  defence,  the  conciliation  of  friends,  and  the  re- 
ply to  particular  foes — in  short,  the  conduct  of  details  as  the 
responsible  minister,  fell  to  the  part  of  Dr.  Falk. 

The  '  Cultus-Minister '  is  a  man  of  about  medium 
height  and  proportions,  with  a  full  black  beard,  and  the 
heavy  eyebrows  which  often  indicate  energy  and  determi- 
nation. \\\  fact,  he  has  given  satisfactory  proofs  of  both 
these  qualities.  As  regards  his  energy,  an  idea  of  what 
degree  was  necessary  may  be  gathered  from  the  foregoing 
account  of  his  duties,  while  his  courage  has  stood  the 
ordeal  required  of  every  statesman  who  excites  the"  hatred 
and  exposes  himself  to  the  vengeance  of  the  pupils  of  the 
Jesuit  Mariana.  He  has  been  threatened  with  assassina- 
tion quite  as  often  as  the  Emperor  and  Bismarck.  In  one 
pigeon-hole  of  his  desk,  a  visitor  would  doubtless  find  a 
bundle  of  threatening  communications,  carefully  registered, 
filed,  and  tied  up  with  red   tape  ;  and  they  testify  to  his 


34  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

official  fidelity  not  less  clearly  than  the  flattery  of  formal 
praise.  Dr.  Falk's  style  of  speaking,  too,  is  that  of  a  man 
not  easily  frightened.  His  manner  is  more  aggressive  and 
pronounced  than  that  of  Prince  Bismarck,  although  his 
printed  speeches  are  not  so  full  of  rugged  epigrams  and 
pointed  retorts.  Of  the  two  men  he  is  the  better  debater, 
but  not  the  better  leader.  His  style  a  German  would  call 
too  "  objective."  He  defends  his  cause  too  much  like  an 
advocate,  as  if  in  the  performance  of  a  prescribed  duty,  or 
even  for  the  glory  of  a  forensic  triumph.  It  is  not  his 
nature  to  reveal  the  personal  feelings  and  experience  that 
connect  him  with  the  cause,  nor  to  appeal  to  the  broad 
patriotic  interests  which  awaken  and  sustain  enthusiasm. 
He  is  always  associated  with  the  details,  Bismarck  with 
the  spirit  of  the  conflict.  He  is  the  minister  in  charge  of 
a  portfolio  to  which  the  clerical  question  happens  to  be- 
long, while  Prince  Bismarck  is  the  statesman  and  the  re- 
sponsible champion  of  the  political  issues  at  stake. 

It  will  be  easily  understood  that  the  ^Minister  of  Public 
Worship,  in  such  a  State  as  Prussia,  should  be  often  ques- 
tioned about  the  particular  form  of  worship  which  he  him- 
self affects  or  favors.  There  was  not  much  doubt  about 
Dr.  Von  Miihler.  He  never  rose  above  the  literal  lan- 
guage of  the  Augsburg  Confession,  and  he  interpreted  that 
instrument  in  such  'a  spirit  of  sacerdotal  reverence,  that 
even  the  Catholics  were  satisfied.  They  were  not  solici- 
tous about  his  succession.  For  them  Dr.  Falk  was  a  per- 
son anathematized  from  the  start ;  and  they  were  amused  but 
not  interestea,  when  the  zealous  Protestants  tried  to  extort 
from  him  a  confession  of  faith.  A  satisfactory  confession 
was,  I  think,   never  obtained.      Dr.    Falk  administers  his 


DR.    FALK.  35 

office  as  a  jurist  and  not  as  a  theologian  ;  and  demands 
that  his  measures  be  criticised  on  their  merits,  without  ref- 
erence to  their  author.  If,  however,  a  creed  be  required, 
it  would  perhaps  be  found  not  far  from  that  of  the  great 
Schleiermacher.  It  has  been  observed  that  the  elder  Falk 
was  a  liberal  theologian,  and  a  dutiful  son  would  certainly 
not  renounce  the  paternal  faith,  when  it  is  shared  by  so 
large  a  portion  of  his  educated  countrymen.  The  exam- 
ple of  Schleiermacher  proves  that  a  man  may  make  puns, 
and  still  be  a  successful  preacher.  His  system  of  belief 
seemed  to  rest  on  the  axiom  that  the  least  degree  of  belief 
is  the  best,  that  the  Christian  religion  would  be  just  as 
good  without  the  idea  of  Christ,  and  that  the  noblest  end 
of  human  effort  is  the  cultivation  of  esprit.  Dr.  Falk  and 
Dr.  Hermann  and  olher  jurists  holding  semi-ecclesiastical 
positions  may  not  accept  all  the  lengths  of  such  a  system. 
They,  doubtless,  profess  a  vague  acquiescence  in  the  gen- 
eral doctrines  of  the  New  Testament  ;  but,  in  a  thorough 
test,  they  would  be  found  nearly  as  far  removed  from  the 
orthodoxy  of  Lutheranism  as  from  that  of  Rome,  and  this 
is  a  fact  to  which  the  old  school  Protestants  will  never  be- 
come reconciled.  Since  Dr.  Falk  became  INIinister,  in 
Januar}',  1872,  nearly  a  score  of  acts  have  helped  to  swell 
the  literature  of  the  ecclesiastical  contest.  Two  or  three 
of  these  were  imperial  measures,  for  which,  indeed,  a  Prus- 
sian minister  is  not  responsible.  The  others,  which  stretch 
over  a  course  of  about  three  years,  were  drawn  up  under 
the  direct  supervision  of  Dr.  Falk,  were  severally  submit- 
ted by  him  to  the  Prussian  Latid/ag,  and  by  him  were 
piloted  successfully  through  both  houses.  The  mere  enu- 
meration of  these  measures  is  like  the  history  of  a  century. 


3^  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

In  the  first  place,  as  above  stated,  he  rescued  the  com- 
mon schools  from  the  control  of  the  religious  sects.  '1  wo 
months  later,  in  May,  four  great  and  almost  revolutionary 
measures  were  presented.  One  laid  down  an  obligatory 
course  of  training  under  the  supervision  of  the  State  for 
all  candidates  for  holy  orders  ;  another  forbade  the  exer- 
cise of  other  than  purely  spiritual  discipline  by  Church 
authorities  ;  a  third  instituted  a  special  court  for  the  trial 
of  clerical  offenders  ;  a  fourth  made  easier  the  path  of  a 
seceder  from  one  Church  to  another. 

In  1874,  the  battle  began  with  an  act  regulating  the 
administration  of  vacant  Catholic  dioceses.  The  way  had 
been  previously  made  clear  for  these  measures  by  an  act 
abolishing  Articles  Fifteen  and  Eighteen  of  the  Prussian 
Constitution, — guaranty  articles  for  the  benefit  of  the 
Church.  The  act  introducing  obligatory  civil  marriage  was 
a  blow  at  an  ancient  prerogative  of  the  Church,  which  had 
been  abolished  nearly  everywhere  else.  The  latest,  and 
in  some  respects  the  most  sweeping,  bills  were  that  for 
the  suspension  of  all  State  endowments  and  contributions 
for  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  and  that  for  the  expulsion 
of  all  Catholic  religious  orders.  I  have  not  mentioned  a 
number  of  minor  acts,  which  were  amendatory  or  explan- 
atory of  previous  legislation. 

In  the  months  of  June  and  July,  1875,  Dr.  Falk  made 
a  long  journey  through  the  region  of  the  Lower  Rhine. 
That  is  the  seat  and  center  of  the  most  intense,  active, 
and  aggressive  Ultramontane  spirit,  the  district  which 
sends  the  ablest  Catholic  deputies  to  Berlin,  which  nour- 
ishes the  most  influential  priests  and  prelates.  It  is  a  re- 
gion "in  which  one  might  stone  the  prophets  of  the  secular 


DR.    FALK.  37 

power.  It  could  hardly  be  expected,  at  least,  that  a  Cabi- 
net minister  making  a  j)rosaic  tour  of  inspection  through 
a  hostile  country,  should  be  prepared  for  a  series  of  popular 
ovations,  such  as  might  be  accorded  to  a  king  or  a  victo- 
rious general  ;  and  the  demonstrations  in  his  honor  are 
therefore  the  more  significant,  as  they  seem  to  have  been 
purely  spontaneous. 

The  series  of  festivities  began  at  the  old  Episcopal  City 
of  Treves,  and  followed  the  minister  down  the  Rhine.  At 
Bonn  there  was  a  banquet,  at  which  Professor  Bona-Meyer 
presided,  and  at  which  Dr.  Falk  made  a  long  speech  of 
thanks.  The  Bonner  Zcitimg  said  :  "  Truly  this  man  has 
won  the  hearts  of  this  whole  province,  through  his  amiable 
and  striking  individuality."  The  next  evening  the  stu- 
dents of  the  university  organized  a  monster  torch-light 
procession,  which,  after  parading  through  the  city  with 
songs,  halted  in  front  of  Dr.  Falk's  hotel.  There  was  a 
speech  of  welcome  from  a  student,  to  which  the  guest  re- 
pHed.  It  may  be  known  that  the  University  of  Bonn  has 
also  a  faculty  of  Catholic  theology,  to  which  the  Minister 
of  Education,  much  to  the  indignation  of  the  Ultramon- 
tanes,  had  appointed  two  Old  Catholic  professors.  The 
students  of  this  faculty  naturally  hekl  aloof  from  any  hon- 
ors that  were  paid  to  that  great  foe.  In  allusion  to  this  Dr. 
Falk  said  during  his  speech  :  "I  know  that  this  illumina- 
tion is  in  honor  of  that  Cullus-]][inistcr  on  whom  the 
present  time  has  imposed  such  arduous  tasks,  and  I  do 
not  wonder  that  a  portion  of  your  number  hold  back. 
And  in  fact,  if  this  had  not  been  the  case,  I  should  have  had 
doubts.  The  satisfaction  would  perhaps  have  been  great- 
er.    But,  gentlemen,  I  hold  it  to  be  undesirable  that,  at 


J 


43 


38  BRIEF   IJIOGRAnilES. 

this  time,  the  conviction  should  gain  ground  in  the  circles 
which  are  not  represented  here,  that  I  deserve  the  honor 
of  a  torch-light  demonstration,  I  do  not  know  whether 
those  circles  will  ever  come  to  recognize,  in  my  time,  that 
what  has  been  done  by  me  in  the  name  of  his  majesty  the 
Emperor,  was  their  cause  also.  But  of  this  I  am  thorough- 
ly  persuaded  ;  that  many  bitter,  insulting  words,  which  I 
have  been  forced  to  hear  during  these  days,  will  some  time 
change  themselves  into  a  chorus  of  accord  and  gratitude." 
Similar  ovations  were  accorded  to  the  minister  at 
Cologne,  at  Diisseldorf,  at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  at  Essen,  at 
Duisburg,  and  other  cities  in  the  Rhine  provinces.  He 
made  two  or  three  speeches  in  each  place,  always  short 
but  always  fresh,  pregnant,  and  pointed.  If  he  is  not  the 
man  to  enchant  an  audience  by  poetical  thoughts  in  me- 
lodious periods,  he  gratifies  all  serious  men  by  a  sturdy 
spirit  of  zeal  and  patriotism.  The  journey  undoubtedly 
led  to  a  wide  increase  in  his  popularity. 


III. 


Dr.  Delbruck. 


HE  name  of  this  gentleman  doubtless  appears  in 
print  as  often  as  that  of  any  other  German  poli- 
tician, after  Bismarck  himself.  He  who  reads 
the  stereotyped  reports  of  the  sittings  of  the  Bundcsralh,  or 
Federal  Council,  will  learn  that  the  President  of  the  Impe- 
rial Chancelry  presided  ;  he  who  watches  the  reports  or 
proceedings  of  the  Imperial  Parliament,  will  meet  Dr.  Del- 
briick  as  the  representative  spokesman  of  the  Bundesrath. 
The  former  body  corresponds  to  a  Senate  in  some  respects, 
to  a  Privy  Council  in  others.  I\Iade  up  of  delegates 
appointed  and  instructed  by  the  several  States,  it  is  at  once 
a  ministry  to  whom  the  preparation  of  bills  belongs,  and, 
at  the  same  time,  a  regular  factor  in  imperial  legislation. 
As  one  of  the  delegates  of  Prussia,  Dr.  Delbriick  has  a 
regular  seat,  and,  as  the  alter-ego  of  the  Chancellor,  he  oc- 
cupies the  chair  of  President. 

When  a  bill  has  been  accepted  by  the  Biifidesra/h,  and 
laid  before  the  Parliament,  the  former  body  becomes  a  sort 


40  BRIi'F    BIOfiRArillES. 

of  responsible  ministry  charged  with  the  contlucl  of  the 
measure.  It  must  be  explained  and  ticlcnded  ;  objections 
must  be  met  and  amendments  considered  ;  and,  when 
necessary,  the  spirit  of  compromise  must  have  an  author- 
ized representative.  If  the  bill  be  on  a  technical  subject, 
military  or  financial,  for  instance,  some  special  talent  is 
sent  up  to  the  House  by  the  council.  On  military  mat- 
ters it  would  be  the  War  Minister  Kamccke  ;  on  financial 
matters,  it  would  be  Camjjhausen  ;  on  judicial  affairs,  it 
would  be   Lconhanit   or  I'.iustlc.     In  any  c ;  vcr, 

even  if  Bismarck  himself  be   present,   the  Pr*  the 

Chancelry  sits  out  the  debate  from  bcpinning  to  end.  No 
accumulation  of  papers  at  his  table  prevents  him  from  fol- 
lowing the  proceedings  on  the  floor,  and  from  taking  up 
the  subject  at  any  point  where  his  intcr^■ention  may  be 
prudent  or  necessary.  In  the  absence  of  Prince  Bismarck, 
his  is  the  last  and  the  weightiest  wonl.  After  that  comes  the 
call  of  the  House.  Nor  is  this  all  that  parliamentary  institu- 
tions ask  of  this  industrious  man.  It  also  falls  to  him  to 
respond  to  all  the  interrogatories  that  the  curiosity  or 
malice  of  deputies  may  suggest,  and  this  requires  a  sort  ol 
information  almost  encyclopedic.  The  inquiries  range  of 
course  over  the  whole  domain  of  imperial  aflairs.  That  one 
man  should  be  able  to  master  so  many  subjects,  is  itself  a 
mystery,  but  that  the  same  man  should  also  find  time  to 
spend  several  hours  a  day  listening  to  debates  and  waiting 
to  answer  questions,  suggests  almost  a  prodigy. 

The  personal  and  official  record  of  Martin  Friedrich 
Rudolph  Delbriick  is  not  brilliant  or  striking.  His  father 
was  the  private  tutor  of  the  late  King  Frederic  William  IV. 
and    of  his   present   majesty — a  worthy  and    devoted  old 


DR.    DEI.Hk UCK.  4I 

court  servant.  ^Martin  was  horn  in  18 17,  at  Berlin,  just 
when  the  city,  as  the  royal  residence,  was  recovering  IVoin 
tlie  effects  of  the  French  occupation  and  the  neglect  of  its 
uwn  sovereign.  After  tlie  usual  preliminary  courses  at  the 
common  schools  ant!  the  gymnasium,  he  took  up  tlie  sub- 
ject of  law  ;  and  studied  not  only  at  the  University  of  Ber- 
lin, which  had  been  oi)ened  in  iSii,  through  the  efforts  of 
Wilhclm  von  Humboldt,  but  also  at  the  sister  schools  of 
Halle  and  Guttingen,  both  then  very  renowned.  It  docs 
not  appear,  however,  that  he  ever  became  a  practical 
jurist.  In  1842,  he  entered  the  public  service  as  an  assis- 
tant in  the  ministry  of  Finance,  and  in  1848,  became  chief 
of  a  bureau  of  division  in  the  Ministry  of  Commerce.  In 
this  capacity  he  gave  special  attention  to  the  commercial 
relations  between  the  separate  States  of  Germany,  and  to 
the  subject  of  the  Zollverein.  He  was  more  successful  in 
promoting  commercial  unity,  than  some  of  his  ambitious 
colleagues  were  in  promoting  political  unity.  The  Frank- 
fort Diet  produced  at  best  a  nondescript  system  with  its 
Rtiihsverwiser  and  poor  Archduke  John  of  Austria  as  the 
incumbent,  bui  in  the  domain  of  commerce  and  customs 
real  and  durable  work  was  accomplished.  In  1851,  the 
States  of  Hanover,  Oldenburg,  and  Schaumburg-Lippe 
joined  the  Zollverein  by  a  treaty  negotiated  by  Dclbriick. 
In  the  ne.\t  decade  he  negotiated  treaties  of  commerce 
with  FrancCj  Belgium,  Austria,  and  Italy,  and  took  an  ac- 
tive part  in  the  extension  of  the  Zollverein.  Since  1866,  the 
frequent  political  changes  in  Germany  have  required  as 
frequent  changes  in  commercial  and  fiscal  relations,  and  in 
all  such  Delbriick  has  played  a  leading  role.  His  exper- 
ience of  the  practice  and  principles  of  commercial  adminis- 


42  nRIEF   BIOGRAPIIirS. 

tration  ;  liis  patience,  induslry,  ami  clearness,  and  his  sur- 
prising mastery  of  details,  remler  him  une  ol"  the  most  effi- 
cient of  men  in  that  honorable  and  difficult  service.  There 
is  not  much  chance  for  political  coups  dt  theatre  ox  scnsA- 
tional  displays  of  any  sort  in  this  work.  The  man  of  facti 
and  figures  is  the  modest  hero,  and  D'-'hriK  k  ix  \  m  ui  i.f 
facts  and  figures. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  Delbriick  was  invited  to  aid  in 
the  reconstruction  of  the  I'.mpire.  One  of  the  most  im- 
portant conditions  of  a  dural)le  uni<)n  was  a  goo<|  adjust- 
ment of  the  new  fiscal  and  commercial  relations  that 
would  result  from  such  an  union;  questions  of  revenue, 
taxation,  customs,  appropriations,  balances  were  lo  be  ex- 
amined anil  answered,  and  a  special  sort  of  talent  was  re- 
quired. The  jealousy  of  liavaria  was  to  be  conciliated,  and 
the  selfishness  of  other  States,  defeated.  Immediately  after 
the  first  impulse  that  leil  to  the  new  union  at  Vers;iillcs 
had  given  way  to  an  inlenal  of  reflection,  obstacles  and 
difficulties  began  to  arise,  which  could  only  be  met 
by  prudence  and  forbearance.  It  is  generally  agreed 
that  Delbriick  deserved  great  praise  for  his  jart  in  this 
delicate  aflair.  Prussia  may  have  had  more  brilliant 
and  showy  envoys,  but  she  had  none  who  combined  in 
a  higher  degree  the  original  qualities  of  the  safe  negoti- 
ator, and  the  acquired  breadth  of  special  and  general  in- 
furmation. 

Dr.  Delbriick,  like  Dr.  Falk,  has  no  reputation  as  a  parlia- 
mentarian aside  from  his  ministerial  functions.  He  holds, 
and  has  held,  since  1873,  ^  seat  in  the  Prussian  House  of 
Deputies,  but  official  prudence  or  modesty  has  hitherto 
kept  him  silent.     It  is  no  reflection  on  his  modesty  to  give 


DR.    DELBRUCK.  43 

the  greater  weight  to  motives  of  ofTicial  prudence.  As  Dr. 
Talk  never  speaks  in  the  Imperial  Parliament,  even  when 
ecclesiastical  questions  arc  before  the  House,  so  Del- 
briick,  wliosc  relations  are  wholly  imperial,  is  careful  be- 
fore Prussian  Deputies  not  to  compromise  a  superior  who 
is  at  once  Chancellor  of  the  P^mpire  and  Minister-Presitlcnt 
of  Prussia.  It  is  a  (iiult  of  the  German  system  that  the 
Legislators  for  Prussia  are  thus  deprived  of  his  counsels. 
There  is  a  large  class  of  questions,  fiscal  and  economical, 
which  in  their  details  are  national  rather  than  imperial, 
and  on  which,  in  their  Legislative  treatment,  the  experi- 
ence and  knowledge  of  Djlbriick  would  throw  much  valu- 
able light  ;  but  he  is  practically  confined  to  the  honorable 
but  modest  support  of  his  vote. 

It  will  give  a  clearer  impression  of  Ilerr  Delbriick,  as 
well  as  of  the  system  of  which  he  is  a  part,  if  we  sketch  a 
typical  scene  in  the  Imperial  German  Parliament.  The 
building  dedicated  to  the  use  of  that  august  assembly  is  a 
triumph  of  the  economy,  or  the  poverty,  of  the  nation.  It 
is  far  more  imposing  than  the  Foreign  Oflke,  far  less  so 
than  the  War  Office,  which  is  its  neighbor  in  the  Leip- 
zigerstrasse.  The  front  part  and  the  upper  stor)'  are  occu- 
j)ied  by  the  library,  the  reading-rooms,  and  the  clerks  of- 
fices ;  the  hall  claims  the  chief  part  of  the  central  building. 
This  hall  is  noted  alike  for  the  absence  of  ventilation  and 
the  want  of  acoustic  eflfect.  As  one  looks  down  from  the 
galler)-,  the  first  object  that  strikes  the  eyes  is  probably  a 
flag  that  was  presented  to  the  first  Rdchstag  by  German 
citizens  of  New  Orleans.  The  second  would  be  the  ner- 
vous but  popular  President,  Forckcnbcck,  flanked  by  the 
secretaries.     The  third,    in  the  absence  always  of  Prince 


44  r.un:r  i!iO(;R.\riin:s. 

Bismarck,  would  be  the  President  of  ihc  Chance] g'^^e 
subject  of  this  sketch,  Dr.  Dclbriick. 

In  tlic  parliamciitar)'  practice  of  Kuro|)c,  tlic  interpella- 
tion, or  question  addressed  from  the  floor  to  the  ministers, 
plays  a  very  important  part.  It  is  often,  of  course,  a  seri- 
ous expedient  for  loarninsf  facts  ;  it  is  ofien  used  on  a  hint 
from  ministers  themselves  to  give  them  occasion  for  a  de- 
sired statement  or  explanation,  but  it  is,  |)crhaps,  o(lene»t 
the  instrument  of  which  the  op|>osition  can  annoy  and 
jjcrplcx  the  govornmenV  And  there  arc  as  various  fj)rms 
of  resj)onse  as  of  the  question  itscIC  In  another  volume 
of  this  series,  Mr.  Gladstone's  manner  has  Iwen  comparcil 
with  Lord  Palmcrston's.  That  of  Prince  Dismarck  de- 
pends on  the  subject,  the  questioner,  the  hour  of  the  day, 
and  the  condition  of  his  own  temper.  In  general,  he  sat- 
isfies curiosity,  if  at  all,  in  a  courteous  and  practical  man- 
ner. If,  liowever,  as  is  most  often  the  case  in  non-politic- 
al matters,  he  turns  the  business  over  to  DelbrOck,  the 
spectators  are  treated  to  an  useful  lesson  in  the  [xirliamen- 
tary  arts. 

Dr.  Dclbriick  is  a  man  about  as  large  and  about  as 
stout  as  the  late  Governor  ,\ndrew  of  Massacliusctis,  ,\j 
he  dresses  he  appears  a  little  more  slender.  Insteail  of  af- 
fecting the  classical  mantle,  which  did  not  improve  Gover- 
nor Andrew's  figure,  either  in  life  or  in  Mr,  GouM' 
lierr  Dclbriick  trims  his  elastic  little  body  in  tli 
of  coats  and  the  closest  of  trousers.  lie  is  ver}*  bald,  and 
as  one  looks  down  upon  him  from  the  gallery,  the  top  of 
his  head  shines  like  a  silver  plate,  or  like  the  gold  snuff- 
box which  he  himself  taps  and  opens  at  frequent  internals. 
He  is  deliberate  and   exact  in  all   his  movements.     The 


DR.    DELBRUCK.  45 

most  unexpected  question  never  finds  him  unprepared  ; 
the  mo->t  persistent  and  impertinent  curiusity  never  rullles 
the  serenity  of  his  manner.  The  writer  lias  seen  liim  re- 
spond to  a  long  scries  of  questions  on  the  most  diverse 
subjects,  without  a{)parently  the  least  note  of  warning  or 
consequently  the  least  special  preparation.  He  ahvajs 
gives  information.  He  can  state  off  hand  the  probable 
receipts  from  the  malt  tax,  the  chapter  which  the  DmiJcs- 
rt/M  has  reached  in  the  c<jdification  of  the  civil  code,  the 
course  of  negotiations  for  a  treaty  of  commerce  with  Mon- 
aco, the  number  of  miles  in  the  Bavarian  railway  system, 
the  height  of  the  mountains  in  the  Saxon  .Switzerland,  the 
probable  govcrnmenial  policy  toward  the  Rhine  in  the  next 
ccntur}', — so  bni.id  is  the  scoj)C  of  his  acquirements.  I 
sometimes  think  that  he  coukl  state  what  form  the  French 
Government  will  have  at  the  end  of  thq  next  twelve- 
month. 

He  is,  however,  no  prophet.  It  has  been  doubted 
even  whether  he  [uissesses  iileas,  and  it  certainly  seems  to 
be  no  part  of  his  duties  to  have  them.  He'is  pre-emi- 
nently a  man  of  facts.  His  mind  is  so  burdened  with 
exact  knowledge,  that  ideas,  even  if  there  were  time  to  gen- 
erate them,  could  hardly  find  a  resting-place.  In  answer- 
ing a  question  in  Parliament  he  might  be  taken  for  a 
professor  of  mathematics  reciting  a  familiar  problem  in 
geometry.  Rising  slowly,  and  without  a  trace  of  the  con- 
fusion which  the  questioner,  perhaps,  hoped  to  create,  he 
clears  his  throat,  assumes  an  easy  posture,  and  then  in  a 
dry,  formal  tone  begins  his  reply,  "  Meine  Herren  !  " 
This  is  the  genuine  bureaucrat.  There  is  no  embarrass- 
ment, no  enthusiasm,  no  emotiun  of  any  sort.    The  house 


46  PRIKF   BIOGRArillES. 

listens  respectfully,  but  with  as  little  feeling  as  if  it  were 
readinpf  the  statement  in  a  journal,  instead  of  hearing  it 
from  the  lips  of  a  responsible  minister. 

On  only  one  occasion,  within  my  recollection,  has  the 
Rcichsfag  tried  to  shake  Delbruck's  position.  It  was  last 
winter,  during  the  debate  on  the  Banking  Bill.  In  the 
progress  of  unification  the  time,  of  course,  arrived  for  an 
imperial  system  of  banking  and  finance  ;  and  pursuant  to 
a  resolution  of  the  Rcuhsiag,  the  Federal  Council,  or  a 
committee  of  the  same,  presented  the  draft  of  a  Bank  Act. 
Now,  for  all  bills  thus  offered  by  the  Government  there  is 
a  sort  of  divided  responsibility.  The  Special  Councilor,  or 
member  of  the  Federal  Council  appointed  to  the  charge 
of  the  subject,  is  always  re-enforced  by  Dclbriick  as  the  gen- 
eral representative  of  the  Imperial  Chancelr}\  In  the  case 
of  the  Bank  Bill,  Camphausen,  as  Prussian  Finance  Minis- 
ter, and  Dclbriick  played  the  two  parts.  It  soon  appeared, 
however,  in  the  course  of  the  debate  that,  while  those  two 
politicians  were  thoroughly  in  harmony  about  the  bill,  the 
responsibility  for  its  objectionable  features  could  be  fas- 
tened upon  neither.  The  defect  in  the  measure  was  the 
failure  to  provide  for  a  national  central  bank.  On  this  the 
Liberals  and  a  portion  of  the  Conservatives  insisted  with 
great  vehemence,  and  they  assailed  the  twin  champions  of 
the  bill  with  all  the  parliamentary  weapons  at  their  dis- 
posal. Dclbriick  w-as  less  obnoxious  than  Camphausen. 
Even  his  enemies  respect  his  zeal,  and  industr)-,  and  efii- 
ciency  ;  and  on  this  occasion,  they  rebuked  not  his  own 
theories  so  much  as  his  alleged  subserviency  to  Cam})hau- 
sen.  Still  he  was  pretty  roughly  handled,  and,  in  spite  of 
his  imperturbability,  doubtless  felt  the  shock.     A  wav  was 


DR.    DELBRUCK.  47 

ultimately  found  for  introducing  the  desired  amendment 
without  a  direct  legislative  affront  for  the  two  gentlemen, 
and  concord  was  restored.  During  the  general  debate 
Dclbrijck  made  two  long  speeches  which  were  able  and 
exhaustive. 

The  oratorical  exploits  of  such  a  man  offer  few  mo- 
ments of  dramatic  interest.  His  functions  and  his  nature 
alike  forbid  him  those  flights  of  fancy,  those  appeals  to  the 
emotions  and  the  passions,  which  alone  would  excuse  the 
translation  and  reproduction  here  of  any  of  his  speeches. 
Dr,  Delbriick  is  interesting  as  a  part  of  a  system  or  a  ma- 
chine, of  which  the  world  knows  perhaps  too  little.  He  is, 
in  other  words,  the  ty[)ical  bureaucrat  of  Prussia.  In  the 
notice  of  Dr.  Falk,  I  have  explained  how  that  gentleman 
became  an  independent  minister  because  he  was  too  origi- 
nal to  remain  chained  to  a  subordinatcdesk.  Delbriick  is 
too  much  of  a  martinet  wholly  to  renounce  the  slavery  of 
red-tape  and  sealing  wax.  Falk  is  a  man  of  genius,  who 
has  become  a  successful  minister.  Delbriick  is  a  man  of 
talent,  who  has  only  become  the  first  of  clerks. 

The  friendship  of  Delbriick  and  Camphausen,  like  that 
of  Damon  and  Pythias,  is  too  close  and  touching  to  escape 
the  chronicler  of  the  times.  Political,  personal,  and  social 
sympathy  binds  them  together.  The  local  wits,  until  a 
late  period,  were  fond  of  drawing  the  two  veterans,  seeking 
relief,  after  the  labors  and  vexations  of  the  d>iy,  in  a  com- 
mon and  comfortable  dinner  at  the  Berliner  Club.  They 
were  both  wifeless,  and  sought  in  each  others'  society  a 
substitute  for  domestic  joys.  This  pleasing  state  of  things 
was  rudely  interrupted  in  the  Spring  of  1875.  At  that 
time,  Dr.  Delbriick  became   the  husband  of  an   excellent 


48  rSRIKF   BIOGRAI'IIIKS. 

lady,  ami  the  Minister  of  Finance  has  never  since  seemed 
ha}»f)y. 

Delbriick  is  known  as  a  pronounced  free-trader.  In  the 
treaties  that  were  negotiated  under  his  direction  tlic  most 
Hberal  principles  of  trade  found  assertion.  He  is  neither 
a  Cobden  nor  a  Chevalier ;  and  he  by  no  means  enjoys, 
as  the  former  came  before  his  death  to  enjoy,  the  honor  of 
conquering  a  whole  nation  to  his  opinions.  Although  the 
doctrines  of  free  trade  have  for  many  years  been  lairly  re- 
spected in  German  policy,  they  have  by  no  means  such  an 
unquestioned  supremacy  as  in  Kngland.  There  are  two 
great  parties,  that  of  free-trade  being  in  a  large  majority. 
Delbriick  is  simply  a  member  of  a  party,  of  which,  by  vir- 
tue of  official  position  and  advantages,  he  ha.s  become  one 
of  the  leaders.  Of  course,  this  gives  the  protectionists  a 
grievance  against  him.  In  the  protectionist  press,  and  in 
protectionist  circles,  it  is  common  to  speak  of  the  "Du- 
umvirate "  Delbriick-Camphausen,  as  the  source  of  all  in- 
dustrial or  monetary  evils  that  afflict  the  State,  and,  there- 
fore, as  public  enemies  to  be  pursued  with  fire  and  sword. 
In  the  case  of  Camphausen,  who  is  stout  and  sluggish, 
the  application  of  fire  at  least  would  make  him  very  un- 
comfortable. But  it  may  be  doubted  whether  it  would 
have  much  effect  on  Delbriick.  He  would  emerge  from 
the  flames  a  little  singed,  perhaps,  and  with  ruptures  here 
and  there  in  his  tegumentary  garments  ;  but  he  would  re- 
sume at  once  the  course  of  parliamentary  business,  and 
his  first  words  would  be,  "Mcine  Hcrrcn. " 


rv 

^^ 

W^MviJ^ 

^i^ 

^^ 

r3^/ 

■^^^^Lijr^ 

i!M8 

ji^^S^^ 

sJK^ 

^(^^Sl 

cMi 

^^ 

!^^ 

^^^ 

IV. 


Herr  Camphausen. 


n:RR  CAMPPIAUSEN  is  a  politician  who  nearly 
'J  became  a  banker,  and  looks  like  an  English  peer 
with  plenty  of  money  and  the  gout.  If  in  his 
own  character  he  disproves  the  theor}',  which  came  to 
light  in  the  Tichborne  case,  that  stout  men  are  always  dull, 
he  likewise  shakes  the  popular  belief  in  their  amiability. 
In  him,  good  living  and  corpulency  have  produced  the 
unusual  result  of  a  dyspeptic  cynic.  It  would  be  incor- 
rect to  call  him  a  grumbler.  To  grumble  is  an  act  of  im- 
patience as  well  as  of  ill-temper  ;  it  is  the  protest  of  a  per- 
son against  a  state  of  things  which  he  is  unwilling  to 
entlure  but  is  powerless  to  correct.  The  Prussian  Minis- 
ter  of  Finance  is  not  a  helpless  or  a  weak  man.  He  is  not 
even  critical,  captious,  or  meddling.  But  he  resents  in- 
terference with  his  own  work,  and  even  fair  criticism  of  his 
own  plans,  as  jealously  and  as  ruthlessly  as  Mr.  Lowe. 
Here,  however,  the  parallel  ends.  Mr.  Lowe,  as  a  scholar 
ind  a  wit,  entertained  the  house  even  in  his  most  blood- 


50  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

thirsty  moods  ;  Herr  Camphausen  is  simply  brutal  without 
any  milder  quality  to  make  the  brutality  palatable.  True, 
he  is  ranked  as  a  practical  financier,  and  is  not  ignorant 
of  the  principles  of  his  chosen  department.  But  there  are 
other  financiers  in  Prussia.  Now  and  then  some  of  them 
are  elected  to  Parliament,  and  ought  they  to  be  scolded 
and  cudgeled  because  they  criticise  Herr  Camphausen's 
budgets  ? 

The  prudence  with  which  the  brothers  Campliausen 
conducted  their  own  affairs  first  called  attention,  I  believe, 
to  their  probable  capacity  for  the  affairs  of  the  State.  The 
older  brother  was  president  of  the  Handclsgericht,  or  Tri- 
bunal of  Commerce,  at  Cologne  ;  and,  what  is  quite  unu- 
sual in  Prussia,  he  never  climbed  the  hierarchical  ladder 
on  his  way  to  the  cabinet.  He  first  won  distinction  as 
an  opposition  deputy  in  the  United  Assembly.  In  a  mo- 
ment of  weakness,  or  of  sanity,  the  King,  Frederick  Wil- 
liam IV.,  invited  him  into  the  ministry,  of  which  he  be- 
came president.  It  was  a  cabinet  of  compromise  or 
conciliation,  and  has  not  left  a  verj'  savory  record  on  the 
history  of  the  country.  His  tenure  of  office  enabled  him, 
however,  to  help  his  brother  Otto  along. 

Otto  was  born  in  1 812,  at  Hiinshovcn,  near  Aix-la- 
Chapelle.  He  studied  at  the  gymnasium  of  Cologne 
and  the  universities  of  Bonn,  Heidelberg,  Munich,  and 
Berlin.  In  1834  he  entered  the  civil  service;  in  1837 
he  became  an  auditor;  in  1844  a  Rath;  in  1S45  a 
Geheimera/h,  or  privy  councilor  of  finance.  His  first 
important  legislative  work  was  the  preparation  of  the 
Income  Tax  Act,  which  was  laid  before  the  Prussian 
Landtag  in   1847.     In   1848  he  became  a  diplomat  on  a_ 


IIERR   CAMPIIAUSEN.  51 

small  scale.  He  was  attached  to  the  Prussian  delegation 
at  Frankfort  on-the-I\Iain,  which  watched  over  the  acts  of 
Reichsverweser  Archduke  John  of  Austria.  As  a  financier  it 
may  be  presumed  that  Camphauscn  was  more  concerned 
with  the  revenues  tlian  the  politics  of  the  Staaicn-Bund. 
A  better  school  for  the  political  student  can  hardl)'  be 
imagined.  How  to  change  the  Staaten-Biind  into  a  Bun- 
desslaat,  the  Confederated  States  into  a  Federal  State, 
was  the  problem  of  the  day,  and  Camphausen  and  Bis- 
marck witnessed  together  the  frivolous  efforts  of  the  Aus- 
trian politicians. 

in  the  year  1858,  by  one  of  those  hierarchical  distinc- 
tions which  only  German  usage  and  language  can  render, 
the  "  Privy  Councilor  of  Finance  "  became  "  Superior 
Privy  Councilor  of  Finance."  When  an  official  reaches 
this  point  he  is  but  one  step  from  a  portfolio  on  the  one 
hand  or  a  pension  on  the  other.  In  the  case  of  Camp- 
hausen it  was  a  portfolio.  Fie  served  a  few  years  as  Presi- 
dent of  the  "  See-IIandlung,"  an  institution  which  ad- 
ministered funds  furnished  by  the  State  for  the  support  and 
encouragement  of  commerce.  In  those  days  it  was  in  its 
infancy,  and  a  modest  ward  of  the  State.  Under  judicious 
management — and  not  the  least  judicious  was  that  of  Camp- 
hausen— it  grew  rich,  powerful,  and  arrogant ;  it  could 
almost  set  the  Bank  of  Prussia  at  defiance ;  and  within  a 
year  or  two  there  have  been  loud  complaints  against  it  as 
a  dangerous  institution  which  has  outlived  its  usefulness. 

Baron  von  der  Heydt  relinquished  the  portfolio  of  Fi- 
nance in  1869,  and  Camphausen  became  his  successor.  The 
downfall  of  the  retiring  minister  had  long  been  imminent. 
He  was  a  very  wealthy  merchant,  one  of  those  princes  of 


52  ERIEF   niOCRAnilES. 

finance  or  commerce,  who  arc  less  common  in  Germany 
than  elsewhere,  and  wlio,  when  they  appear,  are  generally 
found  to  have  close  aflinities  with  their  Dutch  neighbors 
over  the  Rhine.  He  was  one  of  those  equivocal  Liberals, 
so  common  in  the  early  days  of  Prussian  constitutional- 
ism, who  are  acceptable  to  no  party.  Camphauson  was 
his  predestined  successor.  As  chief  adviser  of  Von  der 
Ileydt  and  President  of  the  Set-IIandlung,  he  was  well 
known  to  the  public  as  a  man  who  possessed,  and  he  was 
believed  to  deser\e,  the  confidence  of  his  Majesty. 

lie  was  called  a  Liberal.  The  national  liberal  party, 
which  had  been  organized  after  the  "reconciliation"  of 
1866,  was  in  full  power  in  1869,  It  classed  the  new 
Finance  Minister  somewhat  vaguely  as  a  member.  In  the 
parliamentary  almanacs  he  is  called  an  "Old  Liberal;" 
and  this  designation  doubtless  pleased  him  as  well  as  any 
other.  Nobody  can  say  what  an  "Old  Liberal  "is.  It 
would  seem  to  describe  a  politician  who  prefers  to  play 
fast  and  loose  with  party  ties,  appealing  with  equal  fervor 
to  the  fraternal  sympathies  of  all  factions,  and  owing  a 
formal  allegiance  to  none.  At  any  rate,  an  "Old  Lib- 
eral "  must  stand  in  contact  with  the  new  or  modern 
liberals  ;  that  is  to  say,  with  those  of  the  National  Liberal 
Association.  As  we  shall  see  further  on,  this  state  of 
things  has  hurt  the  prestige  of  the  minister  in  parliament. 

From  the  first  moment  the  new  ^Minister  of  Finance  re- 
vealed a  very  insubordinate  and  refractory  spirit.  He  is  not 
a  foe  of  constitutional  institutions.  He  accepts  them  most 
unreservedly  in  theory  and  even  in  their  application  to  other 
men.  until  they  begin  to  disturb  his  own  repose.  But 
to  arraign  him  under  their  operation,  to  press  parliament- 


HERR  CAMPHAUSEN.  53 

aiy  privileges  into  the  sacred  precincts  of  the  Finance 
Ministry,  is  an  exceedingly  hazardous  proceeding.  This 
is  trespassing  on  dangerous  ground.  If  the  minister  in 
his  wrath  would  only  attack  the  principle  of  the  interpella- 
tion, the  victim  would  more  easily  escape.  He  would 
accuse  Camphausen  of  disloyalty  to  parliamentary  law, 
and  thus  put  him  in  an  attitude  of  antagonism  to  the  en- 
tire House.  This  is  never  possible.  The  replies  of  the 
]Minister  are  always  full  of  formal  homage  to  the  House, 
but  he  lashes  the  individual  offender,  who  within  his  rights 
of  course  represents  the  House,  with  the  most  cruel  and 
savage  retorts.  The  House  laughs  while  it  is  most  angry. 
There  is  about  the  manner  of  the  minister  such  a  pom- 
pous arrogance,  such  a  masterly  impudence,  that  pity  is 
drowned  in  admiration  ;  and,  before  the  members  have 
sufficiently  overcome  their  amazement  to  feel  their  indig- 
nation, the  subject  has  been  dropped,  and  the  offender  is 
quietly  polishing  up  his  gold  spectacles.  I  believe  that 
both  the  Prussian  House  of  Deputies  and  the  Rcuhs/ag 
are  afraid  of  this  belligerent  person.  They  now  and  then 
criticise  him  timidly  when  he  is  absent,  but  in  his  presence 
their  attitude  is  one  of  mingled  fear  and  respect  which  is 
deeply  interesting  to  the  observer. 

It  has  been  said  of  Camphausen,  and  truly,  that  he  has 
had  the  disposition  of  more  money  than  any  Minister  of 
Finance  since  the  Prussian  Exchequer  was  founded.  His 
predecessors  were  either  cramped  by  the  poverty  and  econ- 
omy which  honorably  distinguished  the  pre-constitutional 
era,  or  they  were  forced,  as  during  the  first  two  decades  of 
the  constitutional  era,  to  wrest  money  from  or  collect  it  in 
spite  of  hostile  parliaments.     Camphausen  has  had  little 


54  BRIEF  EIOGRAnilES. 

opposition  and  plenty  of  money.  He  came  into  ofiTicc  as 
a  quasi-liberal  in  1869,  just  when  the  fruits  of  the  "recon- 
ciliation "  of  the  majority  with  the  Government  were  about 
to  be  reaped  in  further  measures  of  union.  Then  came  the 
war  with  France,  which  silenced  the  voice  of  unpatriotic 
censure.  It  was  an  easy  thing  to  satisfy  a  people  wlio 
were  following  events  in  France  instead  of  studying  the 
measures  of  the  treasury.     After  the  war  came  the  milliards. 

This,  the  most  prosperous,  was  at  the  same  time  the 
most  critical  moment  in  Herr  Camphausen's  career.  Of 
the  five  milliards  paid  by  France  as  indemnity,  about  two- 
thirds  went  to  Prussia,  and  into  the  hands  of  the  Minister 
of  Finance,  while  the  distribution  of  the  remainder  was 
largely  determined  by  his  advice.  It  is  no  part  of  our 
duty  to  criticise  or  even  to  explain  the  details  of  this  great 
financial  operation.  Nothing  like  it  had  ever  been  known 
in  the  annals  of  civilized  States,  and  this  must  perhaps  be 
suffered  to  soften  the  judgment  of  the  measures  to  which 
it  gave  rise. 

It  is  perhaps  not  the  fault  of  Camphausen  if,  in  a  land 
where  the  Prince  still  reigns  by  divine  right,  not  a  franc 
of  this  immense  sum  was  used  to  lighten  the  burdens  of 
the  people.  It  was  disbursed  in  the  forms  of  gifts  to 
princes  and  ministers,  for  the  construction  and  repair  of 
fortifications,  for  building  military  railways  and  ironclads, 
and  in  a  measure  for  hospitals,  pensions,  and  other  benevo- 
lent interests.  It  may  be  urged,  of  course,  that  these  were 
necessary  works,  and  that,  without  the  indemnity,  an  ap- 
propriation, and  therefore  fresh  taxes,  would  have  been 
necessary.  This  is  only  partially  true.  At  the  end  of  a 
costly  war  the  Government  would  hardly  have  asked  the 


IIERR   CAMPIIAUSEN.  55 

people  to  make  fresh  offerings  for  the  army  and  the  forts. 
^Herr  Camphausen  was  understood  to  promise  a  Hghtening 
of  taxes  as  a  result  of  the  indemnity,  but  it  was  never  ap- 
parent to  the  country.  This  diasppointment  was  a  great 
blow  to  Camphausen's  prestige.  Since  that  operation  he 
has  been  bitterly  hated  by  the  nation  at  large,  and  out  of 
favor  with  the  great  body  of  Liberal  deputies.  This  may 
not  have  affected  in  the  slightest  degree  his  own  satisfac- 
tion with  himself  and  with  his  work.  It  certainly  has  not 
dulled  the  acerbity  of  his  temper. 

The  next  important  measure  in  which  Herr  Camphausen 
was  concerned,  was  the  Banking  Act  of  1874.  As  this 
has  been  mentioned  also  in  the"  notice  of  Camphausen's 
colleague,  the  President  Delbriick,  I  shall  refer  to  it  now 
only  so  far  as  it  may  seem  to  bear  on  the  subject  of  the 
present  sketch.  As  one  of  the  Prussian  delegates  to  the 
Bundesrath,  Camphausen  naturally  takes  a  leading  part  in 
the  preparation  of  financial  measures  ;  and  the  Banking 
Bill,  as  presented  to  parliament  last  year,  was  justly  be- 
lieved to  embody,  in  a  large  degree,  his  favorite  views. 
That  he  was  bold  enough  to  discard  many  of  the  leading 
features  of  Peel's  Bank  Act,  was,  at  the  time,  the  subject  of 
much  comment,  as  was  the  chief  principle  that  he  himself 
introduced. 

This  principle  was  in  general  that  of  taxing  surplus  cir- 
culation. A  normal  limit  to  the  issue  of  each  bank  was 
fixed  ;  above  this  point  all  issues,  to  another  fixed  limit, 
were  taxed  at  the  rate  of  one  per  cent.  ;  above  this  second 
limit  a  tax  of  five  per  cent,  was  levied.  The  theory  seems 
to  be  that  in  ordinary  times  the  total  untaxed  circulation 
will  be  adequate  to  the  public  needs.     When,  however, 


$6  BRIEF   BIOGRAnilES. 

there  is  a  demand  for  more  currency  it  will  become  i/>so 
/ado  profitable  to  issue  more,  even  under  the  one  per 
cent,  tax  ]:)rovision.  At  the  same  time  the  ability  to  pay 
this  tax  will  be  confined  to  the  strongest  banks,  which  are 
those  most  desirable  in  the  public  interest  as  banks  of 
issue.  In  the  original  bill  no  provision  was  made  for  an 
Imperial  Bank.  The  Bank  of  Prussia  was  to  receive  its 
share  of  circulation  like  any  other  bank,  but  it  was  as  the 
Bank  of  Prussia.  This  the  majority  corrected  in  the  man- 
ner described  in  another  article.  The  Bank  of  Prussia  was 
converted  into  an  Imperial  Bank,  without,  however,  affect- 
ing the  right  of  issue  conceded  to  other  banks. 

The  working  of  this  novel  principle  in  banking  is 
watched  with  a  good  deal  of  curiosity  throughout  Europe. 
It  is,  of  course,  too  early  yet  to  pronounce  judgment  on  its 
success,  for  the  complete  transfer  from  the  old  system  to  an 
uniform  currency  is  far  from  being  complete,  and  has  not 
been  unattended  with  difficulties.  At  the  time  we  write 
there  is  great  stringency  in  the  money  market.  The  with- 
drawal of  the  old  Prussian  notes  has  not  been  followed  by 
the  issue  of  an  adequate  supply  of  imperial  money,  and 
the  circulating  medium  is  not  equal  to  the  wants  of  trade. 
This  is,  of  course,  all  referred  by  popular  logic  to  the 
Finance  Minister  himself.  On  his  broad  shoulders  all  the 
blame  is  thrown,  but  on  the  streets  his  carriage  is  as  im- 
posing and  his  mien  as  sublime  as  in  the  most  prosperous 
times. 

To  complete  Herr  Camphausen's  official  record,  he 
was  a  member  of  the  Prussian  Landtag  from  1849  to 
1852,  and  of  the  Erfurt  Parliament.  He  was  created  a 
member  of  the  Herrenhaus,  or  Chamber  of  Peers,  in  i860. 


HERR   CAMPHAUSEN.  57 

and  took  his  seat  in  1861.  He  became  a  delegate  to  the 
Federal  Council  in  1870.  Two  years  ago  an  official 
pamphlet  was  prepared  with  an  account  of  Camphausen's 
leading  achievements  as  a  minister.  The  Parliamentary 
Handbook,  from  which  I  glean  the  above  facts,  observes  at 
the  close,  that  Camphausen's  policy  has  always  aimed  at 
lightening  the  burdens  of  the  poorer  classes  and  adding  to 
those  of  the  wealthier.  This  would  seem  to  distinguish 
him  from  those  financiers  who  maintain  that  the  weight  of 
taxation  ought  to  fall  on  the  poor. 

Camphausen  is  one  of  the  ministers  whom,  against  his 
will  and  without  his  knowledge,  the  gossips  are  always 
sending  into  retirement.  At  the  time  I  write,  reports  of 
his  resignation  are  again  current.  These  spring,  in  a 
measure,  from  the  general  dislike  in  which  he  is  held,  and, 
in  a  measure,  from  the  belief  that  the  Chancellor  does  not 
share  all  his  financial  and  theoretical  views.  Prince  Bis- 
marck has  never  pretended  to  special  knowledge  of  finan- 
cial subjects.  This  has  of  course  been  a  fortunate  thing  for 
Camphausen,  who  has  thereby  come  less  seldom  into  con- 
flict with  his  chief  than  the  other  ministers.  In  these  days, 
however,  a  rumor  has  been  in  circulation  that  the  Prince 
was  veering  round  toward  protectionist  views,  and  that  a 
policy  antagonistic  to  free  trade  might,  in  view  of  a  wide- 
spread industrial  depression,  be  introduced  in  legislative 
measures.  This  would  necessitate  the  withdrawal  of  the 
Finance  Minister.  One  of  the  things  which  even  his  Lib- 
eral critics  are  not  reluctant  to  praise  is  his  steadfast  and 
intelligent  devotion  to  free  trade,  and  he  could  not  for  an 
instant  form  part  of  a  government  which  should  demand 
the  sacrifice  of  that  principle. 


58  BRIEF   BIOGRAnilES. 

All  this,  however,  rests  on  rumor,  and  Herr  Camp- 
hausen  will  probably  remain.  A  man  of  two  hundred  and 
fifty  pounds  weight,  a  stubborn  will,  and  an  ugly  temper, 
is  not  easily  moved  in  so  conservative  a  land  as  Prussia. 


PART  III. 

The  Diplomatic  Service. 


V. 


Prince   Hohenlohe. 


HE  natural  and  accepted  supremacy  of  Prussia  in 
the  German  Empire  makes  it  inevitable  that  her 
public  men  should  be  at  the  same  time  the  rep- 
resentative public  men  of  all  Germany.  Deeply  as  this 
may  be  felt  by  the  patriots  as  well  as  the  separatists  of  Sax- 
ony or  Bavaria,  it  is  a  political  consequence  of  1866,  con- 
firmed by  the  events  of  1870-71  ;  and  it  has  a  moral 
explanation  even  more  pregnant  and  obvious  than  the  po- 
litical. IMere  numbers  alone  would  not  be  adequate.  At- 
tica was  not  the  most  populous  State  of  Greece,  but  she 
furnished  the  statesmen  as  well  as  the  poets  and  philoso- 
phers, Prussia  has  contributed  the  guiding  politicians  of 
Germany,  because  she  educates  and  trains  them.  The  se- 
cret is  in  that  comprehensive  bureaucracy,  through  the  de- 
grees of  which  a  candidate  for  political  honors  passes  as  in 
the  army,  till  he  comes  forth  an  experienced  political  .serv- 
ant. He  is  likely  to  be  somewhat  narrow  in  his  views,  and 
wedded  to  formulas  in  his  method.  But  he  is  at  all  events 
trained   in   the   theory  and   the  practice  of  his  profession. 


62  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

Such  a  system  could  not  be  maintained  in  a  republic.  The 
one  permanent,  recognized  center,  around  which  all  re- 
volve, is  not  found  in  the  person  or  the  office  of  an  elect- 
ive President.  Democracy  excites,  as  it  ought  to  excite, 
the  spirit  of  initiative — too  often,  alas,  of  irresponsible  ini- 
tiative— and  this  is  fatal  to  an  established  bureaucratic  sys- 
tem, like  that  of  Prussia. 

It  is  a  curious  fact,  and  one  which  confirms  the  forego- 
ing reasoning,  that  the  one  typical  non-Prussian  states- 
man, whom  we  have  selected,  owes  his  success  in  politics 
in  no  small  degree  to  the  training  which  he  received  in  the 
Prussian  civil  service.  Prince  Hohenlohe  did  not  begin 
his  career  in  his  native  State  till  he  had  qualified  himself 
by  years  of  hard  work  in  Prussia.  He  may,  indeed,  owe 
his  rapid  rise  in  the  councils  of  the  Empire  to  his  escape 
from  the  shackles  of  Prussian  routine,  but  this  does  not 
exclude  the  counter-theory  that  the  discipline  of  that  rou- 
tine helped  him  upv/ard  in  his  own  State.  Herr  Brachvo- 
gel,  one  of  Hohenlohe's  biographers,  thinks  that  the  Prince 
"did  not  regard  the  Prussia  of  that  time  as  the  model 
State,  that  she  was,  indeed,  far  from  that  degree  of  political 
maturity.  But  the  real  spiritual,  moral,  and  eflfective  ma- 
terial, out  of  which  alone  a  good,  strong,  and  influential 
State  is  built,  was  there.  This  material  he  had,  as  an  offi- 
cial, studied  in  its  worst,  most  crippled,  antiquated,  and 
helpless  form,  under  Eichhorn,  and  had  learned  to  respect 
it."  *  It  is  this  man,  now  German  Ambassador  at  Paris, 
and  one  of  the  most  trusty  advisers  of  Prince  Bismarck, 
who  is  the  subject  of  the  following  pages. 

*  Brachvogel :   Die  Maimer  der  Neuen  Deutschen  Zeit.  Vol.  III. 


PRI^XE   IIOHENLOIIE.  6;^ 

The  family  Hohenlohe  traces  itself  back  as  far  as  Gis- 
bert,  Duke  of  last  Franconia,  who  was  converted  to 
Christianity  about  the  middle  of  the  seventh  century.  It 
is  customary,  however,  to  regard  as  the  head  of  the  family 
Hermann  the  Illustrious.  His  son  changed  the  name 
PvOthenburg  to  Hohenlohe.  His  son  again,  Siegfried — 
and  this  is  a  curious  fact  in  view  of  recent  events  in  the 
life  of  our  Hohenlohe — this  Siegfried  was  one  of  the  suite 
of  the  Emperor  Henry  IV.,  when  that  monarch  went  to 
Canossa  to  humble  himself  at  the  feet  of  the  Pope,*  but 
returned  to  Germany  before  the  performance  of  the  humil- 
iating act.  The  line  continues  down  to  the  year  1553, 
when  it  was  divided  into  a  Protestant  and  a  Catholic 
branch.  The  present  statesman  belongs  to  the  latter.  We 
have  traced  his  descent  thus  in  some  detail,  not  for  any  in- 
terest that  such  genealogical  questions  for  their  own  sake 
may  have  for  our  readers,  but  because  of  two  remarks  that 
in  Hohenlohe's  case  they  always  suggest.  The  first  is, 
that  a  noble  of  his  exalted  family  connections  should  vol- 
untarily enter  and  pursue,  like  any  plebeian,  a  long  course 
of  training  in  the  civil  service  of  Prussia.  The  other  re- 
mark was  made  at  the  time  of  Hohenlohe's  appointment  to 
Paris,  and  to  the  effect  that  the  selection  of  one  of  the 
most  powerful  and  illustrious  nobles  of  Germany  was  a 
compliment  to  France,  out  of  which  the  best  auguries 
might  be  extracted. 

Chlodwig  Carl  Victor  was  born  on  the  31st  of  INIarch, 
1819,  on  the  family  estate  of  Schillingsfiirst,  in  Bavaria. 
He  had  four  brothers,  one  older,  the  present  Duke  of 

*  Braclivo£rel. 


64  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

Ratibor,  and  three  younger,  one  of  them  being  Cardinal 
Hohenlohe,  and  another  a  Chamberlain  of  the  Emperor 
of  Austria.  Since  the  family  property  had  become  much 
reduced,  and  Chlodwig  as  second  son  could  not  claim  the 
title  and  honors  of  the  house,  he  resolved  to  seek  his  own 
fortune  in  the  most  democratic  way.  After  studying  poli- 
tics and  law  at  the  universities  of  Gottingen,  Heidelberg, 
and  Bonn,  he  began  at  the  bottom-round  to  climb  the 
official  ladder  of  the  Prussian  service.  "  AuscuUator," 
''  Refer  endar,"  "Assessor,"  these  titles  represent  to  a 
Prussian  the  steps  in  his  progress.  In  1840,  or  there- 
abouts, his  brother  became  heir  to  a  large  estate  by  a  col- 
lateral line,  and  was  made  Duke  of  Ratibor,  Chlodwig 
might  have  become  head  of  the  Schillingfiirst  line  and  a 
Filrsi  (Prince).  To  the  astonishment  of  his  friends  and 
the  vexation  of  the  Bavarians  he  preferred  to  stick  to  his 
briefs  and  deeds,  and  the  next  younger  son,  Philip  Ernst 
received  the  dignity.  Five  years  later,  however,  Chlodwig 
seems  to  have  thought  hie  hour  was  come.  Philip  Ernst 
died,  and  the  elder  brother  finally  took  possession  of  the 
family  estates,  and  became  Fiirstvon  Hohenlohe-Schilling- 
fiirst.  He  retired  from  the  Prussian  service,  and  assumed  the 
dignities  and  duties  of  his  new  position  in  his  native  land. 
The  period  of  training  ends  here,  and  that  of  action 
begins. 

As  head  of  a  noble  family,  Fiirst  Hohenlohe  enjoyed 
thc'honors  of  a  Reichsra/h,  and  a  seat  in  the  Upper  Cham- 
bei  of  the  Landtag.  Parliamentary  life  was  not  then  ac- 
tive in  Bavaria.  The  Stale  was  in  a  transition  state  from 
feudalism  to  constitutionalism  ;  and  in  fact  Hohenlohe 
himself  was  the  reporter  of  a  bill  which  aimed  at  making 


PRINCE    IIOHENLOIIE.  65 

lliis  transition  more  rapid  and  sure.  In  1848  the  imperial 
or  ''  Bundes"  government  at  Frankfort-on-the-JNIain  invited 
him  into  the  diplomatic  service.  Fie  filled  the  position  of 
ambassador  successively  at  Athens,  Florence,  and  Rome. 
In  1849  he  was  offered  a  portfolio  in  the  Bavarian  minis- 
\xy  and  declined  it.  Having  passed  his  "  Lehrjahre, "  *  he 
was  now  anxious  to  complete  his  "  Wanderjahre  ;"  and 
too  early  an  entry  upon  cabinet  work  would  not  have  been 
reconcilable  with  his  plans.  He  ended  this  stage  in  his 
career  at  London.  In  1850  he  retired  from  politics  and 
lived  with  his  family  on  his  estate,  making,  however,  from 
time  to  time,  visits  to  France,  Italy,  and  England.  In 
i860  he  again  took  his  seat  in  the  Reichsrath.  Prince 
William  had  become  King  of  Prussia,  and  had  already 
iniiiated  the  new  policy  which  was  to  be  so  vigorously  and 
successfully  pursued  by  Bismarck.  During  these  years, 
and  up  to  1866,  but  one  issue  divided  parties  in  Bavaria, 
the  rival  claims  of  Austria  and  Prussia  to  the  Bavarian 
alliance.  The  extreme  Catholic  or  Ultramontane  faction, 
the  so-called  patriots,  and,  it  must  be  said,  the  majority 
of  the  nation,  inclined  to  the  former.  A  smaller  party, 
mostly  Protestants  and  Liberals,  represented  the  Prussian 
interest.  Hohenlohe  was  the  leader  of  this  party.  In  his 
speeches  and  all  his  public  acts  he  persistently  maintained 
that  the  hope  of  German  unity  lay  in  Prussia,  and  up  to 
Sadowa  itself,  he  warned  his  countrjanen  against  the  fatal 
consequences  of  a  league  with  Austria. 

*  The  German  mechanics  pass  through  a  period  of  apprenticeship, 
called  the  "  Lehrjahre,"  and  a  period  of  traveling  called  the  "  \Yan- 
derjahre."  Goethe's  "Wilhelm  Meister"  is  founded  on  this  practice 


66  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

When,  after  the  close  of  the  war,  the  Minister  Von  der 
Pfardten  came  before  the  Chamber  to  ask  the  ratification 
of  the  treaty  of  peace,  Hohenlohe  declared,  under  the 
applause  of  the  House,  that  "the  ratification  of  the  treaty 
of  peace  must  be  the  last  political  act  of  the  ministry,  and 
only  by  the  immediate  retirement  of  this  cabinet  can  the 
country  recover  from  its  severe  trial."  After  this  no  suc- 
cessor but  Hohenlohe  was  possible.  On  January  ist,  1867, 
he  became  Premier  of  Bavaria  and  IMinister  of  Foreign 
Affairs.  His  policy  in  German  politics  he  explained  in 
the  Chamber  by  the  following  remark  :  "I  hold  it  to  be 
more  expedient  now,  while  everything  is  in  motion,  while 
things  are  adjusting  themselves,  to  take  a  position  towards 
the  North  German  Confederation  whereby  it  is  possible  to 
secure  favorable  conditions  for  the  independence  of  Ba- 
varia and  her  dynasty — I  hold  this  to  be  more  expedient 
than  to  knock  at  a  finished  house,  of  which  the  doors  are 
already  locked."  He  also  drew  up  for  the  information  of 
the  King  a  long  memorandum  of  the  policy  which  would 
govern  him  as  minister. 

In  August,  1867,  he  carried  through  the  Landtag,  by 
clever  parliamentary  strategy,  a  treaty  of  alliance,  offensive 
and  defensive,  with  Prussia,  as  well  as  a  commercial  treaty 
amounting  to  a  ZoUverein.  When  the  Zoll  or  Customs 
Parliament  met  at  Berlin  in  1868  it  recognized  Hohen- 
lohe's  services  by  electing  him  president. 

The  most  important  service  rendered  by  Hohenlohe  was, 
nevertheless,  against  the  Church  of  which  he  was  a 
member,  to  which  the  great  majority  of  the  Bavarian  peo- 
ple belonged,  and  in  the  Holy  College  of  which  his  broth- 
er sat  as  a  cardinal.     To  him  belongs  the  honor  of  first 


TRINXE    IIOIIENLOHE.  6/ 

grasping  the  significance  of  the  Council  of  the  Vatican. 
While  even  Prince  Bismarck  was  inactive,  and  his  Minister 
at  the  Vatican,  Harry  Von  Arnim,  was  coquetting  with 
Jesuits  and  priests,  and  long  before  any  other  power  had 
taken  any  active  measures  against  the  pending  revolu- 
tion, Prince  Hohenlohe,  the  minister  of  little  Catholic 
Bavaria,  had  mastered  the  situation  and  was  trying  to  teach 
it  to  Europe.  In  March,  1869,  he  issued  a  circular  note 
to  the  representatives  of  Bavaria  abroad.  In  view  of  its 
historical  importance,  and  of  the  revelation  of  Hohen- 
lohe's  foresight  which  it  affords,  I  give  a  complete  transla- 
tion : 

Circular  Dispatch  in  Regard  to  the  Council. 

"  It  may  now  with  certainty  be  assumed  that,  unless  unforeseen  obstacles 
arise,  the  (Ecumenical  Council,  called  by  his  Holiness  Pope  Pius  IX.,  will  act- 
ually meet  in  December.  Without  doubt  it  will  be  attended  by  a  great  number 
of  bishops  from  all  parts  of  the  world,  and  will  be  larger  than  any  that  has  yet 
taken  place  ;  and  it  will  claim  for  itself  and  its  acts,  in  the  public  opinion  of  the 
Catholic  world,  the  high  respect  due  to  an  CEcumenical  Council. 

"  That  the  Council  will  occupy  itself  with  purely  dogmatic  questions,  with 
purely  theological  subjects,  is  not  to  be  supposed,  since  questions  of  that  sortt 
which  demand  such  a  solution,  are  not  at  hand.  The  only  dogmatic  question 
which  it  is  hoped  may  be  settled  in  Rome  by  the  Council,  and  for  which  the 
Jesuits  in  Italy  as  in  Germany  and  elsewhere  are  agitating,  is,  as  I  learn  from 
a  trustworthy  source,  that  of  the  infallibility  of  the  Pope.  This,  however, 
reaches  far  beyond  the  strictly  theological  domain,  and  is  of  the  highest  political 
nature,  since  therewith  the  fame  of  the  Popes  would  be  elevated  over  all  Princes 
and  people,  in  secular  matters,  to  an  article  of  faith. 

"If,  now,  this  highly  important  and  momentous  question  is  well  adapted  to 
direct  the  attention  of  all  governments,  which  have  Catholic  subjects,  toward 
the  Council,  their  interest,  or  more  properly  their  concern,  must  be  intensified, 
when  they  regard  the  preparation  now  making  and  the  choice  of  the  commit- 
tees for  this  work  in  Rome.  Among  these  is  one  to  which  is  assigned  exclu- 
sively the  politico-ecclesiastical  matters.  It  is  therefore  beyond  doubt  the 
intention  of  the  Roman  Court  that  at  least  some  resolutions  concerning  such 
matters  or  questions  of  a  mixed  nature,  shall  be  formed  by  the  Council.  Hence 
the  Civilita  Caiolica,  the  periodical  of  the  Jesuits,  which  Pope  Pius  IX.  in  a 
special  treve  endowed  with  the  character  of  an  official  organ  of  the  Curia,  men 


68  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

tioned  as  a  task  incumbent  on  the  Council  to  convert  the  anathemata  pro- 
nounced by  the  Pope  on  December  8,  1864,  into  positive  resolves  or  conciliatory 
decrees.  Since  these  articles  of  the  syllabus  are  directed  at  many  axioms  of  po- 
litical life  as  developed  among  all  civilized  peoples,  the  earnest  question  pre- 
sents itself  to  the  governments,  how  and  in  what  form  they  shall  convey  to 
their  respective  bishops,  and  later  to  the  Council  itself,  a  sense  of  the  serious 
consequences  of  such  a  disturbance  of  the  present  relations  of  Church  and 
State.  The  question  also  further  arises,  whether  it  be  not  expedient  for  the 
governments  in  common,  perhaps  through  their  representatives  in  Rome,  to  en- 
ter a  caution  or  protest  against  such  resolves  as  might  be  made  by  the  Council 
independently,  without  the  concurrence  of  the  representatives  of  the  States, 
without  any  previous  communication  over  clerico-political  questions  or  those  of 
a  mixed  nature. 

"  It  appears  to  me  to  be  imperatively  necessary  that  the  States  interested  try 
to  reach  a  mutual  understanding  upon  this  serious  affair.  I  have  hitherto  waited 
to  see  if  a  move  would  not  be  made  from  some  direction  ;  since  this  has  not 
taken  place,  however,  I  feel  it  my  duty  to  authorize  you  to  bring  the  subject  up 
for  discussion  by  the  government  to  which  you  are  accredited,  in  order  to  learn 
its  views  and  feelings. 

"You  will  therefore  suggest  for  the  consideration  of  such  government  the 
question,  whether  common  if  not  united  action  of  th^  European  States,  in  a 
form  more  or  less  identical,  ought  not  to  be  taken,  in  order  not  to  leave  the 
Curia  in  doubt  about  their  attitude  toward  the  Council  ;  and  whether  some  sort 
of  aconference  between  the  representatives  of  the  interested  governments  would 
be  the  best  method  of  obtaining  an  exchange  of  view  in  regard  to  that  attitude. 

"  You  will  leave  a  copy  of  this  dispatch,  if  desired,  and  send  report  about  the 
spirit  in  which  it  is  received." 

As  Hohenlohe  foresaw  the  war  with  Rome,  so  he  early 
foresaw  that  wdth  France.  In  February,  1870,  half  a 
year  before  the  actual  declaration  of  war,  he  said,  in  the 
presence  of  some  political  friends  :  "  There  can  no  longer 
be  any  doubt  that  war  will  break  out  in  the  course  of  this 
year  between  France  and  Germany."*  The  recent  elec- 
tions had  returned  a  small  clerical  majority,  and  though 
the  King  offered  to  retain  Hohenlohe,  he  decided  to  re- 
tire. "  If  I  am  at  the  head  of  aflairs,"  urged  he,  "  the 
opposition  will  refuse,  out  of  hostility  toward  me,  to  carry 

*  Miinucr  der  neiicn  detttschen  Kelt.     Vol.  III. 


PRINCE   HOHENLOIIE.  69 

out  the  terms  of  the  alHance  with  Prussia  ;  but  if  a  particu- 
"lafisl  [i.e.,  "states-rights"]  ministry  be  in  power,  it  will  be 
carried  away  by  the  popular  feeling  and  do  its  duty."  This 
statesmanlike  theory  was  carried  into  effect.  On  the  13th 
of  February  he  resigned  his  office,  and  Count  von  Bray, 
on  his  advice,  became  his  successor.  He  did  not,  how- 
ever, relinquish  all  participation  in  politics.  When  the  war 
actually  broke  out  he  hastened  to  Munich,  and  by  his 
counsel  kept  up  the  spirits  of  both  King  and  people. 

After  the  close  of  the  war  Hohenlohe  took  an  active 
part  in  the  organization  of  the  new  imperial  system.  He 
was  chosen  to  the  first  Imperial  Parliament  from  his  home 
district  in  Franconia,  and  has  been  regularly  re-elected.  As 
a  deputy  he  belonged  to  the  national  party,  and  has  stead- 
ily supported  Bismarck's  ecclesiastical  and  foreign  policy. 
As  a  faithful,  but  modest  deputy,  Fiirst  Hohenlohe  served 
the  cause  of  the  Fatherland  till  1874,  when  events,  quite 
as  much  as  the  favor  of  Bismarck,  summoned  him  to  a 
new  post  of  great  honor  and  greater  difficulty. 

'  With  the  circumstances  which  led  to  the  removal  of 
Count  Harry  von  Arnim  from  the  head  of  the  German 
embassy  at  Paris,  the  public  has  lately  become  pretty 
familiar.  Some  more  details  on  the  subject  will  be  given 
in  the  next  chapter,  on  Arnim.  But  the  public  was  not 
equally  familiar  with  his  successor,  and  his  recommenda- 
tion for  the  succession.  The  secondary  role  necessarily 
played  by  the  smaller  States  in  imperial  politics,  and  the 
overshadowing  greatness  of  Bismarck's  own  name,  almost 
invited  the  world  not  to  know  the  obscure  but  faithful 
leaders,  who,  in  critical  moments,  had  kept  the  South  Ger- 
man States  up  to  their  duty.     Prince  Hohenlohe  was  the 


70  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

first  of  these,  but  that  was  only  to  be  first  in  the  second 
class.  The  Chancellor,  however,  knew  his  man.  He 
knew  that  if  Hohenlohe  wanted  the  versatility  of  Arnim, 
he  possessed,  on  the  other  hand,  nearly  every  qualifica- 
tion that  Arnim  wanted.  He  was,  in  the  first  place,  a  man 
who  resolutely  put  his  own  fortunes  after  the  welfare  of 
the  State,  in  importance.  He  had  as  much  foresight  as 
Arnim  ;  but,  unlike  him,  he  never  mistook  his  fancy  for 
facts  and  made  it  the  basis  of  official  action.  Years  of 
thorough  training  had  taught  him  that  indispensable  spirit 
of  discipline  and  obedience  which  is  the  secret  of  the 
Prussian  service.  His  powerful  and  ancient  family  con- 
nections were  not  to  be  overlooked  in  the  candidate  for  a 
service  which  is  still  highly  aristocratic.  He  being  a  repre- 
sentative South  German,  his  appointment  was  a  prudent 
if  not  a  necessary  compliment  to  the  loyalty  of  the  smaller 
States.  He  was  profoundly  devoted  to  the  policy  of  Bis- 
marck. And  finally,  as  the  best  professional  qualification, 
he  had  filled  diplomatic  posts  in  several  important  capitals, 
had  traveled  much,  and  knew  the  manners  and  men  of 
many  countries. 
%  In  the  summer  of  1864,  the  Prince  was  appointed  to  the 

Paris  Embassy,  and  entered  at  once  on  the  duties  of  the 
position.  He  was  received  with  pleasure  by  the  French 
Government,  and  enjoys  in  French  society  as  much  credit 
as  it  is  willing  to  accord  to  a  German.  His  diplomatic 
triumphs  are  yet,  indeed,  to  be  won.  The  peaceful  course 
of  aff"airs  between  the  two  nations  has  given  little  occasion 
for  any  display  of  ability  on  the  part  of  the  ambassador, 
but  when  an  emergency  arises  it  cannot  be  questioned  that 
he  will  do  his  duty  like  a  statesman  and  a  patriot. 


PRINCE   HOHENLOHE.  7I 

Prince  Hohenlohe  was  married  on  the  i6th  of  February, 
1847,  to  Maria, Princess  of  Sayn-Wittgenstein.  Two  chil- 
dren are  the  fruit  of  this  union,  Stephan,  born  in  185 1, 
and  Philipp  Ernst,  in  1853.  The  Princess  takes  a  keen  in- 
terest in  politics  ;  and  by  her  connections  and  her  encour- 
agement has  been  a  valuable  support  to  her  husband's 
plans. 

Herr  Brachvogel  has  a  marked  and  sometimes  ludicrous 
tendency  to  deify  his  heroes,  but  the  following  account  of 
Hohenlohe's  appearance  is  not  very  much  overdrawn  : 
"  There  are  human  countenances,  from  which  an  idea  of 
character  can  be  learned  only  with  difficulty,  and  seldom 
with  certainty.  Such  a  face  Prince^  Hohenlohe  has  not, 
for  his  reveals  clearly  and  truly  what  the  man  is  and  what 
he  is  not.  The  form  of  the  head,  the  lines  of  the  profile, 
the  position  of  the  lower  jaw,  make  of  his  portrait  what  is 
called  a  'fine  head.'  The  superior  humanity  and  repose 
which  speak  out  of  his  lineaments,  out  of  his  earnest,  be- 
nevolent, dark  glance,  give  the  impression  of  an  ample 
supply  of  heart  and  brain,  together  with  the  conviction 
that  they  could  serve  only  the  purest  cause.  The  muscles 
of  the  forehead  are  very  marked,  and  a  result  of  the  men- 
tal labor  which  has  been  going  on  beneath  in  the  labora- 
tory of  human  ideas.  The  short  crisp  hair  above  the  high 
but  narrow  forehead  ;  the  fine  lips,  which  move  in  har- 
mony with  the  movements  of  the  eye,  and  are  shaded  by  a 
moustache,  which  hides  their  involuntary  play  ;  and  then 
the  delicately  slender  but  not  too  tall  figure,  the  easy  and 
elegant  carriage,  characterize  the  statesman  as  well  as  the 
man  of  the  world.  * 


Brachvogel,  Vol.  III.,  p.  168. 


72  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

The  leading  features  of  his  character,  as  shown  by  actions, 
the  same  writer  describes  as  follows  :  "  We  do  not  believe 
the  Prince  could  be  very  violent,  nor  that  he  is  capable  of 
too  transparent  humor.  His  physiognomy  is  like  a  thin 
vail,  which  never  forms  too  thick  folds,  which  reveals,  how- 
ever, in  firm  contours,  all  that  passes  behind  it,  in  the 
spirit  01  the  emotions  of  its  owner.  To  the  strong  posi- 
tive knowledge  of  the  Prince  is  allied  the  gift  of  sharp  and 
rapid  judgment,  clearness  of  mind,  and  readiness  with  the 
pen  ;  especially,  too,  a  calm  and  dispassionate  view  of  facts, 
a  determined  grasp  on  what  is  held  to  be  right,  an  incor- 
ruptible unselfishness,  and  yet  a  tenderness  of  heart,  and 
the  difficult  art  of  conciliating  an  opponent's  opinion."* 

This  describes  pretty  nearly  a  saint  in  politics,  and,  of 
course,  some  degree  of  exaggeration  must  be  pardoned  to 
t\ie  patriotic  enthusiasm  of  the  author.  But  the  tribute  to 
Hohenlohe's  benevolence  and  integrity  's  not  overdrawn. 
The  respect  of  his  enemies,  and  the  admiration  of  his 
friends  agree  in  doing  homage  to  a  statesman  whose  pri- 
vate character  illustrates  the  virtues  of  domestic  life  as 
transparently  as  his  official  career  illustrates  those  of  the 
citizen  and  the  patriot. 

*  Brachvogel,  Vol.  III.,  p.  i63. 


VI. 


Count   Harry   von   Arnim. 


F  Prince  Hohenlohe,  the  present  Ambassador  at 
Paris,  is  but  little  known  outside  of  Germany, 
Count  von  Arnim  is  at  least  notorious.  The 
catise  celebre  in  which  he  figured  as  defendant  was  a  scan- 
dal that  the  world  will  not  soon  forget  ;  and  it  was  itself 
enough  to  assure  the  Count  that  questionable  sort  of  fame 
which  the  dignity  of  the  nineteenth  century  does  not  for- 
bid it  from  granting  to  such  sensational  characters.  Thanks 
to  the  exactions  of  a  curious  public,  but  few  of  the  details 
of  Count  Arnim's  life  have  escaped  publication.  In  the 
sketch  which  I  shall  give  of  him,  however,  the  reader  will 
not  expect,  or  expecting  will  not  receive,  a  barren  recital 
of  gossip,  such  as  the  arrest  and  trial  and  sen-tence  of  the 
diplomatist  called  into  being.  What  is  not  forbidden  by 
the  dignity  of  history  is  at  least  forbidden  by  respect  for  a 
family  which  has  deserved  well  of  its  country,  and  whose 
least  fortunate  member  was  long  a  trusted  servant  of  his 
sovereign. 


74  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

The  history  of  Harry  von  Arnim  is  that  of  a  man  of 
aristocratic  birth  and  powerful  connection,  whose  natural 
advantages  had  been  improved  by  the  best  education  and 
the  best  training  that  Prussia  affords  ;  who  entered  on  his 
official  career  with  glowing  prospects,  rising  steadily  to  the 
most  important  diplomatic  post  in  his  country's  service  ; 
and  who,  through  too  much  confidence,  leading  him  from 
one  false  step  to  another,  finally  arrived  in  the  prisoner's 
dock  of  a  criminal  court,  and  there  stood  up  before  the 
eyes  of  the  world  to  be  sentenced  like  a  common  felon. 
To-day  he  is  a  wanderer  in  foreign  lands  and  an  outcast 
from  the  society  of  his  own  friends.  Sad  as  is  this  career, 
and  a  sadder  one  can  hardly  be  found  in  the  records  of 
Germany,  it  will  be  for  the  reader  to  inquire,  after  reading 
the  facts,  whether  posterity  is  likely  to  reverse  a  judgment 
confirmed  by  the  highest  court  in  Prussia. 

The  Arnims  cannot,  like  the  Hohenlohes,  trace  their  lin- 
eage back  to  the  middle  ages,  but,  as  a  family,  I  believe 
they  are  some  two  centuries  old.  The  immediate  ances- 
tors of  Harry  were  aristocratic  but  not  titled.  His  grand- 
father was  poor  and  obscure  ;  but  he  served  his  countiy 
in  one  of  the  most  useful  of  all  ways — by  raising  children. 
He  had  no  fewer  than  eleven  sons,  five  of  whom  fell  at  the 
Battle  of  Waterloo.  Harry  himself  was  adopted  by  his 
uncle,  Heinrich  von  Arnim.  So  little  was  known  of  the 
family  that  Harry  was  generally  supposed  to  be  the  son 
instead  of  the  ward  of  the  so-called  "  March  Minister" — a 
relationship  of  which  he  might  indeed  have  been  proud. 
History  moved  so  swiftly  in  Prussia  during  the  past  dec- 
ade that  new  readings  are  very  often  necessary.  The  names 
of  Harry  von  Arnim  and  Marshal  Manteuffel  were  once 


COUNT  HARRY  VON  ARNIM.        75 

associated  as  the  two  leading  members  of  a  possible  Con- 
servative coalition  against  Prince  Bismarck,  but  a  good 
many  people  have  probably  forgotten  that  the  guardian 
of  the  former  was  a  bitter  political  foe  of  the  latter's  brother, 
and  was,  like  his  protege,  prosecuted  in  a  police  court  for 
a  political  delinquency.  It  was  in  the  days  of  Friedrich 
Wilhelm  IV. ,  and  Heinrich  von  Arnim  was  one  of  those 
who  would  not  go  to  Olmiitz.  He  was  a  man  of  showy 
talents  and  a  fine  speaker.  While  Manteuffel  was  away  on 
his  humiliating  pilgrimage  Arnim  made  a  public  speech,  in 
which  the  conduct  of  Manteuffel  was  arraigned  with  all 
the  vigor  and  eloquence  of  an  indignant  patriotism  ;  and 
the  returning  minister  responded  by  citing  him  before  the 
court  for  the  speech.  Arnim  defended  himself  by  another 
speech.  It  was  before  a  couple  of  judges  and  half-a-dozen 
attorneys,  and  he  himself  was  accustomed  to  sneer  at  his 
audience,  but  the  performance  was  an  admirable  one. 
The  ministry  forbade  its  publication,  and  it  was  printed  in 
Switzerland.  Heinrich  von  Arnim  was  in  every  respect 
one  of  the  finest  characters  in  modern  Prussian  history. 
He  was  a  scholar  and  an  orator,  a  diplomatist  who  scorned 
intrigue,  and  a  minister  who  was  first  a  patriot.  His  aus- 
tere life  and  grave  demeanor  won  him  the  sobriquet  of  the 
Bet-bruder  (Prayer-brother).  The  irreverent  thought  this 
was  a  term  of  ridicule,  but  Arnim  accepted  it  as  an  honor. 
With  the  precepts  and  example  of  this  excellent  man 
constantly  before  him,  young  Arnim  passed  his  youth  and 
early  manhood.  His  studies  were  made  chiefly  in  Berlin. 
At  the  university  he  was  a  model  man,  full  of  wit  and 
spirits,  a  leader  in  literary  circles,  a  good  fencer  and  horse- 
man, and  fond  of  all  sorts  of  manly  exercise.      He  was  in- 


y6  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

deed  poor,  but  he  was  proud,  chivalrous,  and  popular. 
Already  in  those  days  he  was  marked  for  a  political  career, 
and  when  he  entered  the  diplomatic  service  his  promotion 
was  as  rapid  as  could  be  desired. 

He  first  became  known  to  the  world,  and  therefore  an 
object  of  popular  interest,  at  Rome.  It  had  been  the  pol- 
icy of  the  Prussian  Government  to  treat  the  embassy  at  the 
Holy  See  rather  as  a  sinecure,  to  be  confided  to  elderly 
savans  seeking  for  Latin  particles  or  the  origin  of  Roman 
civilization,  than  to  active  professional  politicians.  Peace, 
or  at  least  a  truce,  prevailed  between  Berlin  and  the  Vati- 
can. Devout  Protestants,  with  at  least  a  public  respect 
for  the  Church  of  Rome,  were  always  acceptable  to  the 
Pope.  Harry  von  Arnim  was,  however,  a  scholar  as  well 
as  a  politician.  His  appointment  to  Rome  was  in  no  sense 
disrespectful  to  the  memory  of  his  learned  predecessors, 
while  it  unmistakably  lifted  the  mission  to  the  rank  of  a 
political  post,  calling  for  the  service  of  a  trained  politi- 
cian. 

The  opportunity  for  political  work  did  not  come  at  first. 
No  disturbing  questions  were  pending  for  a  time,  and  Ar- 
nim enjoyed  and  improved  a  city  where  everything  appealed 
to  his  taste,  his  culture,  and  his  scholarship.  He  made  pro- 
found studies  of  ancient  Roman  art,  and  mastered,  in  the 
spirit  of  an  antiquarian,  the  history  of  extinct  societies  in 
that  wonderful  peninsula.  He  was  one  of  the  most  popu- 
lar members  of  the  diplomatic  corps.  The  graces  of  his 
person  and  manner  won  the  admiration  of  the  ladies,  his  wit 
and  eloquence  were  prized  even  by  the  witty  and  eloquent 
Italians,  and  his  real  or  affected  piety  revealed  to  the  Vati- 
can the  possibility  of  an  illustrious  convert.    When  the  as- 


COUNT  HARRY  VON  ARNIM.         yj 

semblingof  the  QEcumenical  Council  brought  the  hour  for 
action,  the  Prussian  Ambassador  had  won  a  position  en- 
joyed by  none  of  his  colleagues. 

In  regard  to  the  attitude  which  the  State  should  take 
toward  the  Council,  it  has  since  been  revealed  that  there 
was  an  original  difference  of  view  between  Arnim  and  Bis- 
marck. The  former  explained  his  theory  in  the  celebrated 
"  Promemoria,"  addressed  to  Dr.  Dollinger  ;  the  latter 
in  the  form  of  instruction  to  the  ambassador  himself  In 
referring  to  the  views  of  Arnim,  so  far  as  is  necessary  for 
my  purpose,  I  shall  guard  against  calling  him  a  friend  of 
Ultramontanism.  His  own  published  memoranda  refute 
such  a  charge.  But  his  opposition  to  Rome  was  different 
in  intensity,  and  still  more  in  character,  from  that  of  Prince 
Bismarck  and  the  Liberals  of  Germany.  Count  von  Ar- 
nim abhors  Roman  Catholic  doctrine  in  the  spirit  of  a 
Prussian  Protestant ;  Prince  Bismarck  abhors  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  in  the  spirit  of  a  free-thinking,  German 
politician.  Arnim  would  tolerate  the  Church  in  the  inter- 
ests of  the  throne  and  nobility,  if  she  did  not  teach  too 
much  false  doctrine.  Bismarck  cares  nothing  about  her 
dogmas  and  decrees,  but  a  great  deal  about  her  power  as 
a  social  and  political  factor  in  Germany.  And  the  lack  of 
harmony  between  the  two  at  Rome  arose  just  out  of  this 
initial  difference  in  political  methods.  Count  von  Arnim 
wished  the  State  to  interfere  in  the  Council  in  order  to 
save  the  Church  from  a  theological'  calamity,  while  Bis- 
marck wished  the  dogma  to  be  rejected  in  the  interest  of 
the  State  and  society.  Arnim  saw  clearly  that  the  Coun- 
cil, as  an  ecclesiastical  legislature,  was  wholly  in  the  power 
of  the  Italian  Jesuits,  and  he  saw,   too,  what  a  great  many 


78  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

statesmen  did  not  see,  that  the  noji  placet  of  the  Ge-- 
man,  French,  and  American  bishops  would  not  have  tbe 
sHghtest  moral  effect  on  the  Council,  and  would  not  be 
maintained  even  by  those  prelates  themselves  without  the 
active  support  of  the  civil  power.  His  recommendation 
to  the  German,  or  rather  the  Prussian  Government,  was, 
therefore,  first,  to  appoint  an  agent  who  should  demand  the 
privilege  of  being  present  at  all  sessions  of  the  Council,  and 
second,  to  make  the  resistance  of  the  Prussian  and  German 
bishops  a  State  cause,  to  be  supported  as  such.  Here  was 
the  draft  of  a  distinct  policy,  which,  if  adopted,  would  have 
wholly  changed  the  relations  of  the  European  States  to 
the  Council.  It  is  but  just  to  Count  von  Arnim  to  say 
that  many  men,  who  are  in  no  special  sense  his  friends, 
concede  to  him  now  a  remarkably  clear  view  of  the  matter 
at  the  time,  and  even  believe,  in  view  of  the  action  which 
the  State  is  now  taking  toward  the  Church,  that  his  advice 
was  wise,  and  ought  to  have  been  followed.  He  was  cer- 
tainly correct  in  predicting  that  the  German  opposition  to 
infallibility  would  not  stand  without  the  aid  of  the  State. 
Whether  the  converse  be  true,  as  he  thought  in  1870,  and 
insists  to-day,  is  a  problem  which  will  never  be  solved. 
Bismarck  declined  to  interfere  with  the  course  of  legislation 
at  the  Vatican,  and  in  two  dispatches,  which  he  has  since 
published,  he  set  forth  his  reasons  for  leaving  things  to 
take  their  own  course,  and  testifies  furthermore  to  the 
complete  indifference  on  the  subject  which  then  prevailed 
in  Prussia. 

That  this  difierence  of  view  did  not  lead  to  any  personal 
coolness,  seems  to  follow  necessarily  from  Arnim's  transfer 
in  1871  to  Paris,  with  the  title  of  Count.     This  was  a  post 


COUNT  HARRY  VON  ARNIM.         7g 

of  greater  difificulty.  It  was  just  after  the  war,  when  the 
resentment  of  the  French  extended  to  everything  German, 
and  an  ambassador  needed  a  rare  union  of  tact  and  de- 
cision, of  suavity  and  firmness.  In  the  judgment  of  disin- 
terested observers  at  Paris,  who  were  neither  German  nor 
French,  Arnim  was  a  zealous  and  sagacious  ambassador. 
No  complaint  about  his  conduct  was  made  till  his  opinions 
became  irreconcilable  with  those  of  Bismarck.  When  his 
opinion  began  to  influence  his  conduct,  and  to  give  to 
the  Paris  Embassy  a  tendency  quite  hostile  to  the  policy 
of  the  Chancellor  of  the  Empire,  a  personal  hostility 
arose,  with  the  results  which  are  now  widely  known.  As 
soon,  however,  as  the  breach  came,  and  the  critics  began 
to  study  and  compare  the  characters  of  the  two  men,  it 
appeared  that  there  was  an  irreconcilable  antagonism  be- 
tween them,  which  made  continued  harmony  very  difficult. 
It  was  the  duty  of  the  present  writer  a  year  ago  to  describe 
this  antagonism,  and  he  sees  now  very  little  reason  to  mod- 
ify what  he  then  wrote. 

Both  men  belong  to  the  parvcfiu  aristocracy.  The  ex- 
treme Conservatives  complain  very  often  that  Prince  Bis- 
marck has  never  paid  them  for  the  suit  of  clothes  they 
gave  him  when  he  took  office  in  the  interest  of  reaction 
ten  years  ago.  Harry  von  Arnim  was  a  penniless  ad- 
venturer till  a  fortunate  marriage  gave  him  wealth  and 
social  position.  He  belongs,  like  Bismarck,  to  what  may 
be  called  the  mediatized  aristocracy — the  aristocracy  which 
has  become  reconciled  to  political  service  under  parlia- 
mentary institutions,  and  even  to  a  respectable  rate  of  prog- 
ress in  that  line.  The  similarity  does  not  extend,  how- 
ever, beyond  their  origin  and  family  circumstances,  and  in 


8o  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

character  and  manner  Count  von  Arnim  is  almost  the 
reverse  of  Bismarck.  The  Chancellor  is  a  cuirassier,  with 
an  extravagant  degree  of  the  cuirassier's  rude  and  over- 
bearing affectation.  The  Ambassador  is  a  civilian,  and  a 
polished  gentleman.  Bismarck  is  impulsive  and  despotic  ; 
Arnim  is  composed,  courteous,  reasonable.  The  former 
has  the  most  intellectual  force  ;  the  latter  the  more  culti- 
vated mind.  Arnim  would  not  have  fought  the  Prussian 
Chambers  so  stubbornly  ten  years  ago  ;  Bismarck  could 
not  bandy  Latin  syllogisms  with  Roman  cardinals  and 
talk  Etruscan  art  with  French  savatis.  In  his  political 
principles  Bismarck  has  broken  entirely  away  from  his 
class  ;  Arnim  was  always  wavering  and  irresolute.  Bis- 
marck knew  the  military  value  of  the  nobles  ;  but  he  also 
knew  that  there  was  a  great  deal  of  rugged  political  work 
for  Germany,  and  that  th.e  strong  arms  of  the  middle 
classes  were  indispensable.  Arnim  was  fastidious  and  aris- 
tocratic, and  fond  of  the  ancient  splendor  of  his  order  ; 
but  he  was  ambitious,  and  he  knew  that  the  gratification 
of  his  ambition  required  at  least  a  formal  compliance  with 
the  new  order  of  things.  His  personal  tastes  were  at  war 
with  his  personal  aspirations.  He  was  always  grasping 
for  the  honors  of  a  constitutional  system,  yet  clinging  with 
one  hand  to  the  possibilities  of  z,  Juiiker  restoration.  Be- 
tween the  two  men  the  Emperor  doubtless  preferred 
Bismarck.  The  Chancellor  was  a  rough  soldier,  who 
never  troubled  him  with  fanciful  theories  of  government, 
was  willing  to  let  him  hobnob  as  much  as  he  pleased  with 
brother  princes,  and  flattered  him  with  the  forms  while  he 
himself  kept  the  substance  of  power.  Besides,  Bismarck 
was  frank  and  open,   and  his  Majesty  is  a  soldier.     But 


COUNT   HARRY   VON   ARNIM.  8l 

Arnim  was  the  darling  of  the  real  Court  parly,  of  the 
literary  spinsters,  of  the  official  artists  and  musicians,  of 
the  poets  laureate,  of  the  modern  nobles  who  had  rushed 
into  the  vacuum  left  by  the  old  aristocracy.  He  was  the 
Leicester  rather  than  the  Sidney  or  the  Raleigh.  His  wit 
made  him  a  court  favorite,  and  no  one  now  denies  that  he 
enjoyed  the  strong  support  of  the  Empress  ;  but  this  could 
not  save  him  from  impending  ruin. 

The  exact  course  of  events  which  led  to  the  final  rup- 
ture was  not  known  at  the  time,  and  has  just  been. 
revealed  in  detail  by  Arnim  himself.  It  appears  that  the 
public  conjectures  were  not  at  fault.  No  better  tribute  to 
the  absorbing  interest  of  French  politics  has  lately  been 
afforded,  than  the  fact  that  a  change  in  the  Chief  of  State  at 
Versailles  carried  with  it  the  removal  and  ruin  of  one  of 
the  most  peaceful  of  German  diplomatists.  For  such  was 
indeed  the  fact.  Not  only  was  the  government  of  M. 
Thiers  acceptable  to  Prince  Bismarck,  but  it  was  his  wish 
that  everything  possible  within  the  limits  of  diplomatic 
action  should  be  done  for  the  maintenance  of  that  govern- 
ment. Count  von  Arnim  was  of  an  opposite  opinion.  A 
devoted  royalist,  he  regarded  the  overthrow  of  M.  Thiers 
as  a  triumph  of  the  monarchical  principle,  and  as  a  de- 
voted courtier,  he  felt  bound  to  impress  this  view  upon 
the  Emperor  William.  He  himself  has  published  several 
communications  sent  to  his  Majesty  by  a  more  direct  route 
than  the  Foreign  Office.  Prince  Bismarck  was  naturally 
indignant  at  such  a  presumptuous  attempt  to  shake  his 
authority,  and  he  resented  it  with  a  vigor  which  recalls 
his  best  days.  As  responsible  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs, 
he  was  asked  to  carry  out  at  Paris  a  policy  which  he  did 


82  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

not  sanction.  Of  course  such  a  state  of  things  could  not 
continue.  The  Chancellor  wrote  that  he  was  worn  out  by 
the  care  of  setting  himself  right  with  his  Majesty  against  a 
refractory  subordinate,  that  as  Arnim  had  more  leisure, 
all  the  advantage  was  on  his  side,  and  that  the  end  must 
soon  be  reached.  When  the  occasion  came  the  blow  fell. 
When  the  Turkish  mission  was  raised  to  the  rank  of  an 
Embassy,  Arnim  was  transferred  to  Constantinople.  But 
he  never  entered  upon  the  new  post.  After  leaving  Paris, 
and  while  awaiting  instructions  for  Constantinople,  a 
discovery  was  made  which  not .  only  put  an  end  to  his 
Oriental  prospects,  but  led  to  his  arrest,  trial,  conviction, 
and  disgrace. 

This  was  the  discovery  that  the  retiring  ambassador  had 
carried  away  with  him  from  Paris  a  large  number  of 
papers  which  were  believed  to  belong  properly  to  the  ar- 
chives of  the  Embassy.  Being  called  on  to  surrender  them, 
the  Count  refused.  He  did  indeed  return  a  few,  which  he 
said  had  been  taken  by  mistake  ;  but  the  rest  he  claimed 
as  private  property,  or  papers  necessary  for  his  defense 
against  further  attacks  from  Bismarck.  The  correspond- 
ence was  short  and  the  Count  had  the  last  word.  But  the 
abstraction  of  State  papers  is  a  penal  offense,  and  the 
Foreign  Office  could  not  stop  here. 

One  day  in  October,  1874,  the  city  was  astounded  to 
learn  that  a  pair  of  gendarmes  had  arrested  Count  von 
Arnim  at  Nasserhaide,  his  country  seat,  brought  him 
abruptly  to  Berlin,  and  locked  him  up  in  the  common  jail. 
Then  his  house,  desks,  and  private  papers  were  searched 
for  the  missing  documents,  or  for  evidence  of  their  where- 
abouts.     After  a  few  weeks  of  the  closest  confinement  the 


COUNT  HARRY  VON  ARNIM.         83 

Count  was  transferred  to  the  Charlie  or  hospital.  Finally 
he  was  allowed  to  remain  in  his  own  house  under  police 
supervision.  The  intense  interest  which  the  case  excited 
was  fed  by  the  press  of  two  hemispheres.  In  Berlin,  men 
spoke  of  it  with  bated  breath.  All  sorts  of  opinions  on 
the  summary  manner  and  on  the  legality  of  the  arrest  were 
expressed  ;  and  while  ihe  Libends  and  the  friends  of  Prince 
Bismarck  demanded  that  justice  be  allowed  to  take  its 
course,  the  extreme  radicals  and  the  ultra  conservatives 
joined  in  defense  of  a  man  who,  as  the  foe  of  their  com- 
mon foe,  was  their  common  friend.  As  a  matter  of  fact 
the  regularity  of  procedure  in  the  case  has  been  vindicated 
at  every  point.  The  apparently  arbitrary  method  was  not 
the  less  legal  under  a  code  in  which  personal  liberty  is 
imperfectly  defined,  and  at  the  hands  of  officials  whose 
first  notion  of  law  is  a  literal  obedience  to  the  orders  of 
a  superior. 

With  the  details  of  the  trial  the  world  is  more  familiar. 
It  was  the  writer's  privilege  and  his  duty  to  be  a  spectator 
of  that  judicial  exhibition,  to  breathe  for  several  hours  a 
day  the  hot  and  corrupt  air  of  the  court  room,  and  to  wit- 
ness the  unedifying  forensic  displays  of  the  counsel.  Sel- 
dom has  a  trial  of  such  celebrity  been  conducted  with  less 
dramatic  impressiveness.  It  affords  very  little  mat  er  for 
the  historian  and  none  for  the  artist.  It  was  an  inquisi- 
tion of  scandal,  a  parliament  of  gossip,  rich  in  petty  bick- 
ering, recrimination,  and  slander,  but  fruitless  of  endur- 
ing facts  or  principles.  Arnim  conducted  him'^elf  with 
defiance  but  not  with  dignity.  At  the  end  of  a  week,  as 
is  known,  the  Court,  in  ihe  person  of  Judge  Reich  and  two 
assistants,  found  the  prisoner  guilty,  and  sentenced  him  to 


84  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

one  year's  imprisonment.  The  case  was  carried  on  appeal 
through  two  stages  up  to  the  "  Obertribunal"  or  Supreme 
Court  of  Prussia  ;  and  the  substance,  though  not  in  each 
case  the  form,  of  the  original  sentence  was  confirmed. 

In  the  meantime  Arnim  had  retired  to  Switzerland, 
where  the  final  decision  has  just  reached  him.  What  he 
will  do  is  yet  to  be  seen.  But  immediately  after  the  judg- 
ment of  the  Obertribunal  there  appeared  at  Zurich  a  book, 
"Pro  Nihilo,"  which  purported  to  be  a  history  of  the  pre- 
liminaries to  the  arrest  of  Arnim,  and  contained  all  the 
documents  that  had  not  already  been  published.  It  is,  of 
course,  attributed  to  Arnim  himself.  The  book  confirms 
throughout  the  current  account  of  the  quarrel  between 
him  and  Bismarck,  and  even  the  friends  of  the  former 
regard  the  publication  as  a  very  grave  indiscretion.  It  was 
the  act  of  a  desperate  leader  who  deliberately  burns  the 
only  bridge  by  which  he  can  escape. 

Harry  von  Arnim  is  now  a  ruined  man,  and  though  he 
may  continue  to  wield  a  certain  force  in  German  politics,  it 
will  only  be  through  the  rancor  of  his  friends,  in  which  he 
will  direct,  and  the  influence  of  patrons  still  not  without 
strength  at  Court.  But  at  one  time  after  his  arrest  it  was 
otherwise.  Before  the  trial,  while  the  arrest  was  regarded 
as  an  audacious  political  enterprise,  which  might  fail  and 
sweep  Bismarck  out  of  office,  his  persecuted  rival  was  natu- 
rally treated  as  his  predestined  successor.  That  Arnim 
himself  believed  in  such  a  theory  is  beyond  doubt.  He 
seems  to  have  thought  that  he  might  form  a  great  party  of 
congenial  spirits  and  on  quite  new  principles,  of  which  he 
would  naturally  be  the  leader.  This  party  would  be  as  far 
rerqoved  frqm  the  peevish  bigotry  of  the  Junkers  as  from 


COUNT   HARRY   VON   ARNIM.  85 

the  hateful  Liberalism  of  Hebrew  barristers.  It  would 
look  to  the  Old  Catholics  and  the  moderate  Protestants  for 
its  religious  tone,  to  the  more  pliant  and  adventurous  por- 
tion of  the  nobility  for  social  position,  to  the  great  Con- 
servative bankers  for  the  sinews  of  war,  to  the  uncor- 
rupted  literary  and  professional  men  for  brains  and  work. 
It  would  have  been  first  and  foremost  a  party  of  gentle- 
men. And  though  it  would  not  have  disdained  for  parlia- 
mentary purposes  the  unkempt  socialist  and  the  elastic 
ultramontane,  it  would  have  restored  the  lost  dignity  of 
the  crown  and  fortified  it  by  the  allegiance  of  every  Con- 
servative place-hunter.  That  Arnim  should  have  cherished 
such  an  ambition  is  proof  of  his  temerity. 

If  this  were  Count  von  Arnim's  only  fault,  it  would,  in- 
deed, be  easy  to  excuse  him,  since  temerity  is  a  fault  of 
temperament,  of  the  emotions.  A  brave  man  is  easily  par- 
doned for  rashness  ;  but  anybody  who  reads  the  published 
correspondence,  and  supplements  that,  as  the  present  writer 
has  done,  from  other  sources  of  information,  must  discover 
in  the  character  of  Arnim  a  degree  of  frivolity  unpardonable 
in  a  serious  statesman.  His  whole  demeanor  was  that  of 
the  artist,  A  little  scenic  eff'ect  was  justified  by  Burke,  and 
is  not  considered  unworthy  of  Bismarck.  But  there  is  no 
country  in  the  world  where  drawing-room  politics,  and  na- 
turally drawing-room  politicians,  are  held  in  more  contempt 
than  in  Germany ;  and  when  to  the  grimaces  of  a  fop  are 
added  the  flippancy  of  a  punster,  a  very  melancholy  com- 
bination is  the  result.  Count  von  Arnim  was,  indeed, 
something  more  than  a  fop  and  a  punster.  But  he  was  nev- 
ertheless the  victim  of  his  own  wit  to  such  an  extent  that  he 
often  failed  to  draw  the  line  clearly  between  the  clown  and 


86  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

the  ambassador.  Take,  for  instance,  his  annotations  on 
the  dispatches.  Some  of  his  friends  vexed  their  souls  over 
the  pretended  cruelty  of  many  of  Bismarck's  dispatches. 
The  sentiment  does  their  hearts  more  honor  than  their  un- 
derstandings. There  may  or  may  not  be  wit  in  Arnim's 
marginal  notes  on  some  of  the  "cruelest"  of  those  dis- 
patches— that  is  a  question  for  the  critics  ;  but  in  my  opin- 
ion, the  man  who  made  them  was  not  at  the  time  likely  to 
die  of  a  broken  heart.  His  counsel  maintained  that  the 
notes  proved  that  at  that  time  Arnim  meant  to  take  the 
dispatches  away  as  his  own  property.  The  pretense  is  not 
an  unreasonable  concession  to  his  self-respect.  But  their 
existence  suggests  an  ugly  doubt  whether  his  grief  was  so 
profound  as  is  represented,  and  whether  he  did  not  look 
on  his  general  difficulty  with  his  superior  as  a  comedy  out 
of  which  fun  was  to  be  extracted.  If  that  be  his  view  of  the 
importance  of  harmony  in  the  diplomatic  service  it  is  difficult 
to  see  on  what  ground  he  can  appeal  to  his  own  countrymen 
or  to  the  world  for  sympathy.  Count  von  Arnim  seems  to 
have  had  the  most  unbounded  confidence  in  the  power  of 
his  own  name,  or  of  his  connections  at  Court,  to  shield 
him  against  the  punishment  of  his  crime  at  each  and  at 
every  stage.  There  was  about  this  theory  a  sort  of  flip- 
pancy and  arrogance  which  invited  the  fate  that  has  over- 
taken him.  It  was,  at  any  rate,  a  reckless  theory  to  set 
up  against  the  known  resolution  of  Prince  Bismarck,  and 
if  I  have  correctly  described  the  prisoner's  character,  its 
existence  does  not  imply  a  consciousness  of  innocence. 
At  the  same  time  it  would  be  manifestly  unjust  to  hold 
Prince  Bismarck  responsible  for  all  the  petty  indignities 
which  Count  von  Arnim  suffered  at  the  hands  of  over-zeal- 


COUNT  HARRY  VON  ARNIM.         87 

ous  officials.  It  is  the  curse  of  Kings,  and,  under  constitu- 
tional government,  of  Ministers,  "  to  be  attended  by  slaves 
that  take  their  humors  for  a  warrant ;  "  but  the  Foreign  Of- 
fice was  too  shrewd,  if  not  too  scrupulous,  to  trespass  over 
the  bounds  of  the  law. 

Count  Arnim  is  a  tall,  handsome  man,  with  a  heavy- 
black  beard  and  moustache,  a  mouth  which  curls  with  a 
haughty  expression,  and  eyes  that  reveal  spirit  and  pene- 
tration as  well  as  insincerity.  By  his  first  wife  he  had  one 
son,  now  a  young  officer  of  dragoons,  whose  filial  devotion 
during  the  imprisonment  and  trial  of  his  father  won  gen- 
eral admiration.  'The  second  wife  was  his  cousin,  a 
daughter  of  Count  Arnim-Boytzenberg,  Governor  of  the 
Province  of  Silesia.  She  was  owner  of  a  large  fortune  in 
her  own  name,  and  was  able  to  improve  the  style  of  the 
ambassador's  establishment. 


PART    IV. 

The  Parliamentarians. 


VII. 


Herr   von    Bennigsen. 


PERTINENT  and  fitting  introduction  to  this  ar- 
ticle will  be  an  account  of  a  visit  which  the  writer 
has  just  made  to  the  German  Imperial  Parliament. 
It  was  a  day  of  the  practical  and  the  useful,  following  a 
day  of  dramatic  and  brilliant  interest.  On  the  previous  day 
the  House  had  brought  to  a  close  the  general  budget  de- 
bate, in  which  the  Chancellor  himself,  just  returned  from 
Varzin,  had  made  a  long  and  important  speech,  which  in 
its  turn  provoked  replies  from  the  ablest  of  his  foes.  Next 
day  began  the  special  debate,  which  is  generally  dull  and 
unentertaining.  The  hall  wore  a  thoroughly  ordinary  as- 
pect. The  members  were  conscientiously  inattentive  to 
the  several  speakers,  and  spent  their  time  in  reading  or 
writing  or  chatting.  Even  the  suave  and  patient  President 
yawned  now  and  then,  and  looked  wearily  from  the  clock 
which  ticked  on  the  opposite  wall  to  the  tricolored  flag 
which  hung  above  his  head.  The  ministers  and  clerks  sat 
listlessly  at  their  desks  ;  and  of  the  reporters,  only  they 


92  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

who  were  obliged  to  transcribe  everything  transcribed  any- 
thing. Nevertheless,  this  unpicturesque  scene  was,  per- 
haps, in  an  artistic  sense,  a  better  back-ground  to  two  fig- 
ures which  attracted  the  writer's  attention. 

They  were  standing  on  the  elevated  section  around  the 
President's  desk  and,  careless  of  the  debate,  were  conduct- 
ing an  earnest  discussion  between  themselves.  One  of 
them  was  a  tall,  massive  man,  with  a  bald  head,  and  a 
rough  hard  face,  scarcely  lighted  by  a  pair  of  gray  eyes 
disproportionately  small.  He  was  in  the  uniform  of  a 
general  of  cavalry,  and  he  had  the  carriage  and  manner  of 
a  soldier.  While  he  was  speaking  his  fingers  twitched  nerv- 
ously, but  he  gesticulated  little.  Now  and  then  he  crossed 
his  hands  behind  him,  stretched  his  giant  frame  to  its  ex- 
treme height,  and  one  saw  a  man  whose  appearance  sug- 
gested power  quite  as  clearly  as  his  history  reveals  it.  His 
companion  was  a  man  nearly  as  tall  and  quite  as  stout,  but 
the  resemblance  ends  here.  For  in  place  of  the  showy 
military  uniform,  he  wore  clothes  which  were  plain  even 
for  a  civilian  ;  his  complexion  was  dark,  with  the  tint  of  the 
Semitic  rather  .  than  the  Latin  race  ;  and  he  looked  out  of 
a  pair  of  heavy,  black,  piercing  eyes.  Of  all  American 
statesmen  he  most  suggested  Mr.  Morton.  A  strong,  ef- 
fective man,  deliberate,  but  not  awkward  in  his  move- 
ments, earnest  and  emphatic  in  his  manner.  The  two 
seemed  not  only  to  be  personal  friends,  but  also  to  have 
many  points  of  political  confidence  and  sympathy  ;  and 
the  fancy  of  the  spectator  could  easily  rise  to  the  theory 
that  their  conversation  was  ranging  through  the  very  gravest 
questions  of  state.  The  first  of  these  two  men  was  Prince 
Otto  von  Bismarck,   Chancellor  of  the  German  Empire, 


IIERR   VON   BENNIGSEN.  93 

the  other  was  Rudolph  von  Bennigsen,  Speaker  of  the 
Prussian  Lower  House,  and  member  of  the  Imperial  Par- 
liament. 

A  writer  in  the  Garknlaube,  a  weekly  illustrated  periodi- 
cal, says  :  "  If  one  is  present  at  the  many  interesting  de- 
bates of  the  present  session  of  the  Prussian  House  of  Depu- 
ties, one  sees  in  the  president's  chair,  which  Herr  von 
Forckenbeck  has  hitherto  filled  with  so  great  honor,  a  man 
whose  aristocratic,  stately  figure  and  intelligent  lineaments 
involuntarily  attract  attention.  The  whole  appearance 
bears  the  type  of  the  North  German  nature,  and  impresses 
less  through  striking  qualities,  through  glowing  individu- 
ality, through  convincing  eloquence,  through  brilliant  wit, 
than  through  practical  readiness,  a  harmonious  develop- 
ment, and  manly  strength,  which  demand  and  deserve 
confidence  and  respect.  The  firmness  and  calm  less  with 
which  the  new  president  guides  the  often  too  stormy  delib- 
erations, the  impartiality  which  on  such  occasions  he 
shows,  the  dignity  which  he  always  preserves  for  himself  and 
the  House,  suggest  a  long  parliamentary  career,  a  firm 
character,  and  a  marked  political  talent."  * 

Von  Bennigsen  stands  in  German  history  as  the  type  of 
an  efficient  patriot.  His  case  shows  what  maybe  accom- 
plished for  political  ends  by  extra-political  methods.  Al- 
though he  has  spent  years  in  the  public  service,  and  sitting 
in  three  different  legislatures  has  wielded  much  influence 
since  1855,  his  great  work  was  accomplished  by  popular 
agitation  outside  of  the  sphere  of  official  action.  The 
Deutsche  Nalional  Verein,  or   German   National  Union,  of 

*  Die  Gartenlaubc,  1874,  p.  93. 


94  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

which  Bennigsen  was  the  founder,  held  toward  the  struggle 
for  German  unity  the  same  relation  as  the  Concord  min- 
ute men  to  the  American  Revolution — it  was  the  zealous 
and  patriotic  levy  of  hasty  forces,  which,  with  the  introduc- 
tion of  order  and  method,  gracefully  accepted  the  duty  of 
discipline  and  subordination  to  authorized  leaders.  It 
was  an  unofficial  but  not  illegal  association.  While  a 
timid  King  of  Prussia  refused  to  place  himself  at  the  head 
of  the  popular  cause,  and  become  the  center  of  that  unity 
for  which  the  Fatherland  was  striving,  the  National  Verein, 
a  voluntary  association  of  patriotic  and  liberal  men,  or- 
ganized public  spirit  and  kept  alive  the  hopes  of  the  coun- 
try. So  long  as  there  was  no  governmental  control  of  the 
popular  efforts,  this  Verem  acted  as  leader  ;  when  the 
State  assumed  the  lead  the  Verein  retired. 

Rudolph  von  Bennigsen  was  born  on  the  loth  of  July, 
1824,  at  Liineburg.  He  belongs  to  an  old  noble  Saxon 
family,  which  had  afterward  settled  in  Hanover,  where  it 
seems  to  have  held  a  good  position.  He  studied  jurispru- 
dence at  Gottingen  and  Heidelberg,  qualified  as  an  advo- 
cate but  entered  the  judiciary,  and  rose  to  the  functions  of 
a  judge  at  Gottingen.  In  1855  the  city  of  Aurich  elected 
him  to  the  second  Chamber  of  the  Hanover  Legisla- 
ture. To  accept  a  legislative  or  elective  office,  accord- 
ing to  the  laws  of  Hanover,  a  person  in  the  employ  of 
the  government  required  the  permission  of  the  crown. 
The  "crown"  of  Hanover  at  that  time  sat  upon  the  fore- 
head of  poor  old,  blind,  stupid  King  George  ;  and  King 
George  refused  Bennigsen  the  indispensable  consent. 
There  was  but  one  alternative,  and  Bennigsen  adopted  it. 
He  could  not  be  a  judge  and  a  deputy,  but  he  could  be  a 


HERR   VON   BENNIGSEN.  '     95 

deputy  by  ceasing  to  be  a  judge.  He  promptly  resigned 
his  judgeship  and  with  it  all  hopes  of  preferment  under  the 
government,  and,  as  a  free  man,  took  his  seat  in  the  par- 
liament. 

AtGottingen  the  young  jurist  had  formed  acquaintances 
which  were  eventful  for  him,  and  which  have  been  not  un- 
eventful for  the  history  of  Germany,  Two  of  these,  Zach- 
arioe  and  Miguel,  were  his  fellow-students  and  fellow-legis- 
lators ;  and  one  of  them,  Miguel,  has  been  his  inseparable 
companion  and  faithful  ally  in  all  his  labors  for  unity.  On 
entering  the  parliament  in  1866,  Bennigsen  at  once  took 
a  position  as  leader  of  the  opposition.  The  government 
was  in  the  hands  of  the  notorious  Count  Harries.  He  was 
a  reactionist  of  the  most  extreme  character,  and  the  King 
was  completely  in  his  power.  The  Court  was  full  of  his 
creatures  ;  and  was  almost  equally  notorious  for  the  profli- 
gate adventurers  who  shut  out  every  sign  of  Liberalism,  and 
the  covetous  priests  who  took  care  of  the  King's  conscience 
to  the  scandal  of  true  religion.  Against  the  sway  of  this 
corrupt  and  demoralizing  clique,  Bennigsen  waged  a  gallant 
but  hopeless  fight  down  to  the  year  1866.  It  needed  the 
soldiers  of  Prussia  to  drive  them  away,  and  to  accomplish 
with  the  iron  hand  what  political  methods  had  failed  to 
effect. 

In  1859  Bennigsen  and  IVIiguel,  with  a  few  others,  drew 
up  and  issued  a  programme  or  scheme  of  German  unity. 
It  was  a  document  which  made  a  profound  effect  through- 
out the  country.  The  liberalism  and  patriotism  of  the 
Fatherland  were  either  wasting  their  forces  in  hopeless 
contests  with  reaction,  as  in  Prussia  and  Hanover  itself; 
or  were  patching  up  at  Frankfort  the  wrecks  of  frail  con- 


96  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

federations  ;  or  were  hiding,  crushed  and  cowed,  before 
the  police.  Bennigsen's  appeal  was  addressed  to  an  ear- 
nest but  bewildered  public ;  it  was  answered  with  enthu- 
siasm and  joy. 

The  programme  embraced  a  scheme  of  construction  and 
a  scheme  of  action.  In  the  former  the  author,  Hanove- 
rian as  he  was,  distinctly  threw  Austria  overboard,  and  de- 
clared that  only  Prussia  could  be  at  the  head  of  an  united 
Germany.  He  proposed  to  intrust  the  executive  power 
t)  the  crown  of  Prussia,  while  the  legislative  power  should 
be  in  the  hands  of  a  National  German  Parliament  elected 
by  universal  suffrage.  What  Bismarck  has  actually  accom- 
plished, this  leader  advocated  twenty  years  ago.  If  this 
were  his  only  merit,  perhaps  too  much  stress  ought  not  to 
be  laid  upon  it.  A  great  many  other  men  saw  and  de- 
fended the  necessity  of  a  national  legislature  in  those  days  ; 
and  a  parliament  of  Frankfort,  thinking  it  had  recon- 
structed the  German  Empire,  once  oflfered  the  imperial 
dignity  to  King  Frederic  Wilhelm  of  Prussia.  It  was 
not  so  much  the  prescience  of  Bennigsen  in  finding  the 
basis  of  a  solid  union,  as  the  practical  skill  in  organizing 
public  sentiment  in  favor  of  this  basis,  that  is  his  great 
merit. 

I  have  already  spoken  of  the  object  of  the  Naimial- 
Verein,  and  its  relation  to  German  politics.  It  held  its 
first  meeting  in  accordance  with  an  invitation  of  Bennig- 
sen, on  September  16,  1S59,  and  he  himself  was  properly 
chosen  President.  Among  other  prominent  members 
were  Feodor  Streit,  Fries  of  Weimar,  Schulze-Delitsch, 
Unruh,  Loewe,  Miguel.  The  Franl  '"ort  Assembly  formed 
the    permxnent    organization  of  the  Nationol-Vereiyi.   and 


HERR   VON   BENNIGSEN.  97 

fixed  its  seat  at  the  city  of  Coburg.  It  was  prosperous  be- 
yond expectation.  At  the  time  of  its  dissolution  in  1S66 
it  numbered  thirty  thousand  members,  of  whom  ten  thou- 
sand were  from  Prussia.  In  1866,  after  the  organization 
of  the  North  German  Confederation,  making  inevitable 
the  speedy  realization  of  the  Empire,  the  union  had  no 
further  raisoti  d'etre,  and  was  dissolved.  Bennigsen  him- 
self, who,  by  the  annexation  of  Hanover,  was  made  a 
Prussian,  became  a  member  both  of  the  Prussian  Lower 
Chamber  and  of  the  North  German  Reichstag. 

When  the  war  of  1866  became  imminent,  Herr  von 
Bennigsen  tried,  as  Prince  Hohenlohe  tried  in  Bavaria,  to 
save  his  country  from  the  folly  and  certain  failure  of  the 
Austrian  alliance.  If  the  Bavarians  were  drawn  to  Aus- 
tria by  the  claim  of  geographical  proximity  and  family 
ties,  the  Hanoverians  were  drawn  away  from  the  Prus- 
sians by  difference  of  religion  and  traditional  rivalry.  The 
task  of  the  one  statesman  was  therefore  as  hard  as  that  of 
the  other.  But  the  consequences  of  failure  were  not 
equally  disastrous.  For  while  Bavaria  suffered  only  the 
shame  of  espousing  a  losing  cause,  and  a  few  years  of  anx- 
iety from  1866  to  1870,  Hanover  expiated  her  crime  by 
entering  at  once  into  the  Prussian  commonwealth,  and  giv- 
ing up  her  character  as  an  independent  State.  It  is  now  the 
province  of  Hanover.  It  is  governed  from  Berlin,  like  the 
most  ancient  part  of  the  Prussian  domains,  and  for  the  loss 
of  a  blind  king  it  enjoys  the  presence  of  Prince  Albert  of 
Prussia,  a  nephew  of  King  William.  All  this  occurred 
doubtless  quite  as  much  according  to  the  wishes  as  the 
predictions  of  Bennigsen. 

It  has  been  explained  in  previous  articles  how  the  recon- 


98  BRIEF   BIOCRArillES. 

ciliation  was  effecled  in  1866,  The  government,  which 
had  organized  its  army,  and  fought  the  war  in  spite  of  the 
adverse  votes  of  the  Chamber,  came  forward  after  the  bat- 
tle of  Sadowa  and  asked  for  a  vote  of  indemnity,  which 
the  majority,  carried  away  by  enthusiasm  over  the  victory, 
promptly  conceded.  This  involved,  necessarily,  a  read- 
justment of  party  relations.  Out  of  the  progressive  party 
and  the  more  moderate  conservatives  was  founded  the 
National  Liberal  party,  and  of  this  one  of  the  leading 
spirits  was  Herr  von  Bennigsen.  It  is  now  the  most  pow- 
erful of  all  the  parliamentary  and  political  factions  in 
Germany,  and  is  practically,  though  not  avowedly,  the 
Government  party.  Although  not  stronger  than  all  the 
other  factions  together,  it  can  generally  elect  the  parlia- 
mentary officers,  and  by  judicious  leagues  organize  a  par- 
liamentary majority. 

During  the  war  of  1870  Bennigsen  was  in  confidential 
relations  with  the  Prussian  authorities,  and  undertook,  in 
the  interest  of  the  common  cause,  two  important  missions. 
The  one  was  to  the  South  German  States,  where  he  dis- 
cussed the  conditions  of  a  possible  unity.  The  other  was 
to  the  camp  at  Versailles  in  the  winter  of  1871,  where  the 
same  negotiations  were  afterwards  carried  out  to  a  practi- 
cal result.  He  is  much  esteemed  by  the  Government  of 
Prussia,  not  less  for  his  sterling  qualities  as  a  patriot  than 
for  his  practical  and  unpretending  business  capacity. 

The  reputation  which  Bennigsen  had  won  as  President 
of  the  National- Verein  caused  his  selection  in  1873  as 
President  of  the  Prussian  House  of  Deputies.  Herr  von 
Forckenbeck  had,  for  several  years,  presided  over  that 
body,  but  in  1873  he  was  appointed  to  the   "ffcrrenhaiis" 


HERR   VON   BENNIGSEN.  99 

on  the  nomination  of  his  native  city,  Breslau,  and  Bennig- 
sen  almost  by  acclamation  was  made  his  successor.  He  is 
a  capable  and  popular  presiding  officer.  Less  elastic  and 
nervous  in  manner  than  Forckenbeck,  less  venerable  and 
impressive  in  appearance  than  Simson,  he  strikes  the  spec- 
tator as  a  practical,  well-informed  parliamentarian,  with 
strong  opinions  judicially  subordinated  to  the  duties  of  his 
position.  In  the  Reic/isfag  he  may  be  found  sharing  with 
Dr.  Simson  the  two  seats  which' the  majority  reserves  for 
its  most  honored  members.  As  a  private  legislator  he  can, 
of  course,  in  the  Imperial  Parliament  throw  off  the  reserve 
imposed  on  him  in  the  Prussian  House.  He  is  not  a  fre- 
quent speaker.  He  does  not  enter  much  into  the  ordi- 
nary play  of  debate,  the  interrogatory,  the  interruption, 
the  retort,  and  what  may  be  called  the  skirmishing  that 
precedes  great  parliamentary  battles.  But  when  the  col- 
umns of  infantry  close  he  is  an  effective  leader.  He  is  a 
close  and  cogent  reasoner,  but  is  not  without  the  fire  and 
emphasis  of  an  orator.  As  he  is  less  radical  and  adventu- 
rous than  Lasker,  and  generally  defends  views  not  far  re- 
moved from  those  of  the  Wilhelmstrasse,  he  is  heard  with 
a  marked  but  somewhat  patronizing  respect  by  Prince  Bis- 
marck. 

The  particular  significance  of  Bennigsen  for  political 
observers  lies,  however,  not  more  in  the  past  or  the  pres- 
ent than  in  the  possibilities  of  the  future.  He  is  what  is 
called  an  available  man.  He  has  many  friends  and  no 
enemies,  he  enjoys  the  support  of  his  party  and  the  confi- 
dence of  the  government,  and  the  hopes  of  his  friends  do 
not  end  at  the  presidency  of  the  House  of  Deputies. 
The  hopes  of  a  man's  friends  are  not  always  an  accurate 


lOO  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

measure  of  his  prospects.  But  Bennigsen  is  a  thoroughly 
self-reliant  man  ;  and  it  is  as  clear  on  the  one  hand  that  he 
has  never  been  pushed  forward  beyond  his  merits,  as  on 
the  other  that  he  has  proved  equal  to  every  position  in 
which  he  has  been  placed.  Hence  they  who  claim  for 
him  the  succession  to  Prince  Bismarck,  do  not  trespass  on 
the  domain  of  the  impossible.  Their  calculation  may  be 
premature,  and  they  do  not,  perhaps,  take  account  of  all 
the  influences  and  considerations  that  will  govern  the 
choice  of  the  next  Reichskanzler,  but  there  are  no  infalli- 
ble reasons  for  excluding  Bennigsen.  The  circumstances 
of  the  time  would  count  for  quite  as  much  as  the  claims 
of  the  rival  candidates.  If  the  Chancellorship  becomes 
vacant  during  the  reign  of  the  present  Emperor,  he  may 
declare  that  he  has  coquetted  long  enough  with  Liberal" 
ism,  and  prefer  to  close  his  regime  under  the  ministry  of 
a  politician  of  the  old  school,  full  of  respect  for  the  tradi- 
tions of  the  past.  If,  however,  a  new  Emperor,  be  at  the 
head  of  affairs,  disposed  by  a  moderate  policy  to  conciliate 
the  esteem  of  the  great  Liberal  majority,  he  will  probably 
select  some  parliamentary  leader  who  enjoys  influence  and 
respect  among  his  colleagues  and  authority  in  the  country 
at  large.  No  man  answers  this  description  better  than 
Rudolph  von  Bennigsen. 


VIII. 


Dr.  Simson. 


ERR  BRACHVOGEL  takes  Dr.  Simson  as  the 
typical  representative  of  parliamentary  life  in 
Germany.  "The  year  1848,"  he  says,  "was 
the  mother  of  German  parliamentarism,  as  well  as  the  cra- 
dle of  the  capacity  which  Dr.  Martin  Eduard  Simson  has 
developed  in  political  life."  Only  a  remarkable  year,  even 
in  Germany,  the  reader  will  observe,  could  be  at  once  a 
mother  and  a  cradle.  "  Simson,"  pursues  his  biographer, 
"and  parliamentarism  " — I  continue  to  use  the  indispen- 
sable word,  for  which  there  is  logical  and  analogical,  if  not 
etymological,  authority — "Simson  and  parliamentarism, 
or  the  legal  participation  of  the  German  States  in  their 
own  and  in  the  general  German  political  life,  are  quite 
inseparable.  Our  jurist,  distinguished  as  he  is  in  his  pro- 
fession, would  hardly  have  excited  and  retained  in  so  high 
a  degree  the  public  attention,  would  hardly  have  become 
so  important  a  factor  in  our  political  life,  if  he  had  not 
entered    so  early    and   so   successfully  the   parliamentary 


102  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

domain.  Therefore,  both  must  be  painted  together,  espe- 
cially because  the  stages  of  development  through  which  he 
has  passed,  are  those  of  the  most  of  his  colleagues,  in  fact 
of  parliamentarism  in  Germany."* 

Dr.  Simson  was  born  on  the  loth  of  November,  1810, 
in  Konigsberg,  a  city  which  has  produced  perhaps  more 
than  its  share  of  the  modern  liberal  spirits  of  Germany. 
His  early  education  was  conducted  there,  and  his  early 
studies  in  jurisprudence,  at  the  university  of  the  same  city. 
Afterwards  he  was  at  Berlin  and  Bonn,  and  heard  the  lec- 
tures of  Niebuhr,  the  great  historian,  and  Savigny,  the 
great  jurist.  In  1 829,  he  received  his  degree  of Z^ffr/fryi/m. 
Soon  after  the  July  Revolution,  he  undertook,  on  the  ad- 
vice of  Niebuhr,  a  journey  to  Paris.  Ilerr  Brachvogel  in- 
dulges in  some  fanciful  reflections  upon  the  possible 
influence  exercised  on  the  young  jurist  by  the  government 
of  the  "citizen  king."  It  may  have  tended  to  confirm  in 
him  the  sentiments  of  moderate  liberalism  by  which  he 
has  always  been  distinguished.  On  returning,  he  chose 
an  academical  career,  and  settled  in  his  native  city,  as  tutor 
{^Docent)  of  Roman  law.  This  was  in  1831.  In  1833,  he 
became  extraordinary,  in  1835,  regular  professor.  In  1834, 
he  had  become  a  member  of  the  so-called  "Tribunal  for 
the  Kingdom  of  Prussia."  In  1845,  ^^  '^^'^s  secretary  of 
the  commission  on  the  revision  of  East-Prussian  prjovincial 
law,  and,  a  year  later,  he  was  made  Tribunal  rath.  In 
1847,  he  traveled  in  England,  and  studied  the  institutions 
of  the  jury  and   the  justice  of  the   peace,  as  well  as  the 

*  Brachvogel,  Die  Manner  der  netien  dentschen  Zeit.  Vol.  III., 
P-  393- 


DR.   SIM  SON.  103 

English  constitution  in  general.  The  year  1848  came. 
One  of  the  first  whom  it  brought  into  prominence  was  this 
jurist,  who  was  at  once  a  scholar  and  a  man  of  the  world  ; 
whose  mind  had  been  not  only  enriched  by  study,  but 
also  enlarged  by  travel  and  observation,  who  was  in  the 
prime  of  life,  and  in  the  possession  of  all  the  avenues  to 
popular  esteem. 

At  this  epoch,  Herr  Brachvogel  distinguishes  four  prom- 
inent factions  in  political  life.  ist.  That  which  demanded 
freedom,  and  nothing  further.  This  was  made  up  of  the 
republicans,  the  radicals,  and  the  socialists.  2d.  That 
which  demanded  first  freedom  and  then  unity.  This  was 
the  constitutional  party,  the  liberals,  the  great  majority  of 
the  nation.  3d.  That  which  demanded  first  unity  and 
then  freedom.  This  was  the  grea.t  I^eic/ispar/ez.  4th.  That 
which  demanded  unity  and  nothing  further.  This  was 
composed  of  the  friends  of  an  hereditary  German  Empire, 
the  royalists,  the  absolutists,  the  reactionists. 

This  classification,  without  being  infallible,  is  sufficiently 
accurate  to  serve  as  a  convenient  key  to  subsequent  com- 
plications. Dr.  Simson  belonged  vaguely  to  the  third  of 
these  factions.  He  believed,  indeed,  in  freedom,  but  he 
also  believed  that  it  was  conditional  on  unity,  and  that 
patriotism  and  statesmanship  alike  dictated  that  the  first 
be  the  original  object.  In  Prussia,  at  this  time,  the  lib- 
erals were  trying  through  their  constituent  assembly  to 
secure  unity  through  freedom.  At  Frankfort,  in  the  Ger- 
man National  Assembly,  they  were  trying  to  effect  freedom 
through  unity.  Simson  naturally  sympathized  with  the 
latter,  and  Konigsberg  made  him  a  member.  Here  he  be- 
longed  to  the  moderate  Right,    the  so-called    "Casino" 


104  BRIEF  BIOGRAPHIES. 

party,  which  carried  him  to  the  secretaryship,  and  in  Sep- 
tember, the  same  year,  made  him  vice-president.  In  the 
middle  of  December  the  president  of  the  Assembly  was 
called  into  the  ministry,  and  Simson  became  his  successor. 
At  each  following  monthly  election  he  was  re-elected,  till 
May,  when  ill-health  compelled  him  to  resign.  On  April  3, 
1849,  ^^6  '^^'^s  at  the  head  of  the  deputation  which,  in  be- 
half of  the  Frankfort  Parliament,  went  to  Berlin  to  offer 
the  German  Imperial  crown  to  Frederic  William  IV.,  and 
received  from  him  the  answer:  "  The  German  Imperial 
crown  will  only  be  won  on  the  field  of  battle." 

On  recovering  his  health.  Dr.  Simson  did  not  resume 
his  mission  at  Frankfort,  but  with  Heinrich  von  Gogern 
and  a  few  other  liberals  of  the  same  school,  founded  an 
association  at  Gotha.  They  were  called  in  derision,  "The 
Gothaer,"  and  their  well-meant  scheme  proved  a  general 
failure.  It  defended  the  so-called  "  triple  league  of 
kings  " — a  temporary  alliance  formed  between  Prusssia, 
Saxony,  and  Hanover.  In  1850,  Dr.  Simson  entered  the 
second  chamber  of  the  Prussian  Parliament,  and  became 
leader  of  the  opposition.  The  ministry  of  Manteuffel  was 
in  power,  and  had  first  signalized  itself  by  the  famous 
humiliation  of  Olmiitz. 

The  chamber  at  that  time  contained  three  leading  fac- 
tions. On  the  left  sat  the  extreme  radicals  of  all  classes, 
who  with  a  good  deal  of  rough  unmanageable  talent,  num- 
bered also  a  few  men  of  high  culture  and  fearless  political 
steadfastness,  such  as  Jacoby,  Struve,  Loewe,  Brentano,  and 
Waldeck.  On  the  opposite  side,  the  right,  were  seated 
the  conservatives,  divided  into  two  groups,  the  Catholics, 
and   the  old   Protestants.     In   the  center  sat   the  consti- 


DR.    SIMSON.  105 

tutional,  or  liberal   party,   whose  leaders  were  Schwerin, 
Forckenbeck,  Unruh,  Grabow,  and  Simson. 

Dr.  Simson  retained  his  seat  only  one  year.  The  state 
of  parliamentary  life  at  that  time  does  not  seem  to  have 
pleased  him.  There  prevailed  an  uninterrupted  warfare 
between  the  chamber  and  the  ministry,  or  between  the  suc- 
cessive chambers  and  the  different  ministries ;  and  the 
futile  efforts  from  year  to  year  to  effect  compromises  only 
made  matters  worse.  ^If  the  ministers  were  stubborn  and 
despotic,  and  persisted  in  ignoring  the  principles,  while 
they  admitted  the  fact  of  constitutional  government,  it 
must  be  said,  on  the  other  hand,  that  the  opposition  was 
often  unreasonable  and  intemperate,  and  prevented  har- 
mony by  the  extravagance  of  its  demands.  Extravagant, 
I  mean,  not  in  a  theoretical  sense,  but  in  a  practical 
sense. 

It  is  impossible  to  question  the  perfect  soundness  of  the 
general  principles  maintained  by  Jacoby  and  Waldeck, 
but  they  made  the  practical  mistake  of  trying  to  lift  an 
absolute  monarch  and  a  monarchical  people,  at  once,  to  the 
height  of  English  or  American  liberty.  Dr.  Simson  could 
be  the  champion  neither  of  ministers  who  persistently  de- 
nied the  House  the  respect  guaranteed  by  the  Constitution, 
nor  of  radicals  who  maintained  the  exclusive  authority 
of  Parliament.  He  sat  neither  with  the  servile  right,  nor 
with  the  irreconcilable  left.  He  was  of  the  moderate  or 
constitutional  party,  but  in  those  times  there  was  but 
little  for  him  or  it  to  do.  The  battle  was  between  the  ex- 
tremes. The  moderates  held  really  the  balance  of  power, 
but  they  were  unpracticed  in  parliamentary  life,  and  seldom 
knew  how  to  use  their  position  to  advantage.  Dr.  Simson 
5* 


I06  ERIEF   BIOGRArillES. 

rctiuned,  lliercfore,  to  Konigsber^  and  resumed  his  peda- 
gogic and  judicial  funttions. 

This  lasted  till  i860.  In  that  year  he  was  again  sent  to 
the  second  Chamber  of  the  Prussian  Landlag,  and  acted 
one  year  as  its  president.  Although  the  majority  of  the 
House  belonged  to  the  radical  wing  of  the  Liberals,  while 
Dr.  Simson  was  classed  with  the  moderate  or  All- Liber alen, 
the  general  respect  for  his  integrity  as  a  man,  and  his  capa- 
city as  a  parliamentarian,  secured  his  election  over  a  stricter 
partisan.  The  year  of  his  presidency  was  remarkable  for 
the  uninterrupted  conflict  of  the  majority  with  the  War 
Minister  von  Roon.  He  represented  at  once  the  soldier's 
contempt  for  the  civil  powers,  and  the  aristocrat's  contempt 
for  parliamentary  forms.  The  records  of  those  days  are 
full  of  his  despotic  and  insolent  utterances  to  the  represen- 
tatives of  the  people  of  Prussia,  but  it  must  be  said  that  the 
majority  did  not  always  show  itself  conciliatory  and  reason- 
able. Dr.  Simson,  as  a  strict  parliamentarian,  tried  to  main- 
tain justice  between  the  enraged  parties.  No  complaint 
of  injustice  has  been  specifically  formulated,  and  he  re- 
tained throughout  the  respect  of  all.  But  after  the  new 
House  met,  in  1S62,  the  majority  preferred  a  more  pro- 
nounced radical  for  president,  and  the  choice  fell  upon 
Grabow. 

I  agree  fully  with  Herr  Brachvogel  that  Dr.  Simson  is 
the  best  typical  representative  of  parliamentary  life  in  Ger- 
many. His  claim  to  that  distinction  does  not  rest  alone 
on  the  number  of  assemblies  over  which  he  has  presided ; 
nor  does  the  respect  paid  by  public  opinion  to  his  eminent 
fitness  for  such  labors,  constitute  alone  his  claim  to  that 
distinction.     The  very  character  of  the  man,  so  far  as  that 


DR.    SIMSON.  107 

can  be  compared  to  the  character  or  elements  of  an  institu- 
tion, corresponds  to  parliamentary  life  in  his  own  country. 
I  do  not  speak  of  the  stormy  transition  period  in  Prussia,  up 
to  1 86 5,  with  which  Dr.  Simson  could  have  had  but  little 
sympj^thy.  A  calm,  conciliatory,  moderate  man,  his  con- 
ception of  a  model  legislature  is  that  of  one  in  which  seri- 
ous, thoughtful  patriots  meet  for  deliberation,  one  from 
which  violent  passions  and  extreme  opinions  are  alike  ex- 
cluded, and  which  strives  to  march  in  harmony  with  all  the 
other  elements  of  public  life.  And  this  I  believe  to  be  the 
prevailing  view  throughout  the  country.  It  must  be  re- 
membered that  the  earliest  Prussian  Parliaments  issued  from 
exceptional  circumstances.  Coming  into  being  as  the  ful- 
fillment of  a  promise  long  broken  by  the  crown,  and 
through  a  constitution  not  deliberately  adopted  by  the  peo- 
ple, but  granted  by  the  king  on  the  eve  of  an  unsuccessful 
insurrection,  and  confronted  by  ministers  who  openly 
acknowledged  no  authority  but  that  of  their  sovereign, 
those  assemblies  naturally  reflected  all  the  anger  and  dis- 
content of  a  people  deceived.  They  seem  more  radical  in 
feeling  by  contrast  with  the  aggressive  reaction  in  the  gov- 
ernment, and  they  were  driven  to  extreme  acts  by  the 
arrogance  and  folly  of  their  foe.  But  that  these  were 
momentary  phenomena  and  not  abiding  characteristics,  is 
shown  by  the  subsequent  course  of  events.  The  composi- 
tion of  the  present  House  of  Deputies  is  not  essentially 
different  from  that  of  those  days.  The  same  elements,  in- 
deed the  same  men,  are  to-day  in  control.  But  the  exas- 
perating Jacobinism  of  the  past  decade  has  given  way  to  a 
moderation  which  approaches  timidity  ;  and  the  leaders, 
whose  noisy  dissent  used   to  drive  ministers  out  of  the 


I08  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

House,  are  now  the  bulwarks  of  a  mild  conservatism. 
The  course  of  events  has  changed  the  forms  but  not  the 
principles  of  their  parliamentary  action.  In  other  words, 
it  has  brought  them  nearer  to  the  system  of  belief  and  line 
of  policy  of  Dr.  Simson. 

If  ever  English  political  life  and  methods  were  to  be 
introduced  into  Germany,  Dr.  Simson  would  be  their 
chosen  representative.  He  looks  the  English  gentleman 
as  exactly  as  he  acts  him.  He  is  a  man  of  medium  height, 
with  a  smooth,  refined  face,  the  soft  gray  whiskers  and  the 
clear,  mild,  benevolent  eyes  of  a  gentleman  of  the  old 
school.  Of  English  statesmen  he  most  resembles  Sir 
Roundell  Palmer,  or,  as  he  is  now,  Lord  Sclborne  ;  and 
of  Americans,  the  late  Senator  Buckingham,  of  Connecti- 
cut. He  looks  like  a  man  in  whom  respect  for  order,  for 
authority,  for  the  amenities  of  political  life  were  predomi- 
nant. The  sharp  irony,  the  bitter  retort,  would  seem  out 
of  place  on  his  life.  In  a  system  where  the  courtesies  of 
life  counted  for  more  than  the  conquests,  where  personal 
honor  was  as  sacred  as  written  laws,  where  a  sober  conser- 
vatism and  respectable  mediocrity  gave  the  prevailing  tone, 
Dr.  Simson  would  hold  and  deserve  a  high  rank. 

In  1862  came  Bismarck,  and  the  conflict  resumed  the 
intensity  which  could  only  precede  its  end.  During  the 
interval  from  that  time  to  1866,  when  the  "reconciliation" 
completely  changed  the  relations  of  existing  parties.  Dr. 
Simson  sat  as  a  private  member  of  the  House  and  accepted 
no  more  prominent  position  than  that  of  President  of  the 
Committee  on  Justice,  or,  as  we  would  say,  "'Chairman  of 
the  Judiciary  Committee."  The  reconciliation  was  almost 
a  vindication  of  his  political  method.      Royer  Collard  said, 


DR.    SIMSON.  109 

La  France  est  Cetifre  Gauche,  meaning  that  the  real  opinions 
of  the  country  were  moderately  Hberal  ;  and  Guizot,  the 
great  exponent  of  bourgeois  government,  said  that  the  true 
seat  of  parUamentary  power  was  in  the  two  centers.  Dr. 
Simson  is  the  model  bourgeois\t^\%\2Xox.  Equally  removed 
from  the  reactionary  obstinacy  of  the  ministers  and  the 
intolerant  radicalism  of  the  majority,  he  had  always  believed 
that  a  safe  compromise,  inspired  by  a  common  prudence 
and  effected  by  mutual  concession,  was  sure  to  be  finally 
effected.  The  country  did  not  share  his  opinions.  It  had 
been  firmly  believed  that  the  combat  between  Bismarck 
and  the  Landtag  was  one  a  entrance.  It  could  only  end 
in  the  complete  triumph  of  the  parliamentary  principle,  or 
a  victory  of  the  ministry  and  a  return  to  mediaeval  systems. 

Events  proved  that  Dr.  Simson  was  right.  The  com- 
promise effected  after  the  Austrian  war,  or  rather  the  recon- 
ciliation, modified  the  temper  and  the  pretensions  of  both 
parties  to  the  long  strife,  and  out  of  the  fiery  furnace  issued 
the  relations  which  are  now  at  the  bottom  of  parliamentary 
institutions,  both  national  and  imperial. 

Dr.  Simson  became  again  indispensable.  The  North 
German  Confederation  followed  the  battle  of  Sadowa,  and 
the  first  German  Parliament  introduced  a  new  legislative 
factor.  It  met  for  the  first  time  in  February,  1867,  and 
Dr.  Simson  was  elected  president  almost  by  acclamation. 
In  October  of  the  same  year,  he  was  at  the  head  of  a  com- 
mission which  presented  to  the  king  an  address  voted  by 
the  Reichstag.  In  1870,  as  President  of  the  Reichstag,  he 
was  at  the  head  of  a  deputation  which  went  to  Versailles 
to  greet  the  King  of  Prussia,  or  German  Emperor.  On 
the  constitution  of  the  Imperial  Parliament,  Dr.  Simson 


no  BRIEF   BIOGRAnilES. 

was  again  made  president  and  remained  such  until  1874. 
Ill  health  forced  him  to  relinquish  a  post  of  so  much  labor, 
and  to  abandon  a  sort  of  work  which  had  occupied  him 
for  nearly  twenty-five  years.  He  did  not,  however,  surren- 
der his  seat  as  a  deputy. 

Here  we  leave  the  subject  of  the  sketch,  sitting  in  the 
Reichstag,  in  which  he  has  almost  a  paternal  interest,  and 
enjoying  the  esteem  and  confidence  of  the  whole  country. 
At  his  age,  no  new  field  of  political  activity  is  likely  to  open 
for  him.  But,  if  ever  an  emergency  arises  for  which  the 
country  requires  a  man  who  unites  firmness  of  conviction 
with  moderation  of  temper,  who  enjoys  an  authority  won 
by  long  years  of  faithful  service,  and  whose  personal  char- 
acter has  never  been  stained  even  by  slander,  many  eyes 
will  be  at  once  directed  to  Martin  Eduard  Simson. 


PART   V. 

The  Party   Leaders. 


IX. 


Eduard    Lasker. 


HIS  gentleman  introduces  us  to  a  new  e'ement  in 
German  political  life.  Hitherto  we  have  treated 
only  of  the  statesman  in  office,  in  charge  of  a 
portfolio,  or  at  the  head  of  an  embassy,  or  scolding  reluc- 
tant deputies  from  the  president's  chair ;  now  we  come  to 
the  delegates  of  the  people,  who  owe  nothing  to  the  favor  of 
princes,  and  who  are  the  less  admired  at  court  the  more 
they  are  admired  throughout  the  country.  Numbers  of 
these  men  have  arisen  even  within  the  short  life  of  Prussian 
and  German  constitutionalism.  Some  of  them  have  passed 
forever  from  the  scene  of  political  warfare  ;  others,  still  liv- 
ing, have  been  swept  to  the  rear  by  the  changing  current  of 
affairs  ;  a  few  still  retain  and  wield  the  authority  won  in 
past  decades.  I  have  taken  five  men  who  represent,  if 
not  five  distinct  parties,  at  least  five  distinct  currents  or 
forms  of  political  action.  One  stands  for  the  National 
Liberal  party,   the  majority  in    the  Imperial  Parliament, 


114  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

and  the  party  of  the  great  middle  class  of  Germany.  A  sec- 
ond stands  for  the  Fortschritts-parki,  the  party  of  progress, 
composed  of  the  uncompromising  radicals  who  respect  ab- 
stract principles.  A  third  is  the  champion  of  the  Uitrinion- 
tane  faction,  the  only  regular  ojiposition.  A  fourth  repre- 
sents that  sort  of  political  radicalism  in  which  the  theories  of 
social  and  industrial  reform  predominate.  Finally,  the  fifth 
is  political  radicalism,  pure,  fearless,  and  irreconcilable. 
The  first  of  these  characters,  and  to-day  the  one  best 
known,  is  Eduard  Lasker.  He  is  the  natural  and  the  ac- 
cepted leader  of  the  National  Liberals  ;  and  to  this  honor, 
which  he  has  won  by  his  own  talents,  the  favor  of  the 
crown  has  never  added  that  of  an  administrative  office.  A 
tribune  of  the  people  he  has  always  been,  and  will  doubt- 
less remain.  If  Bismarck  is  the  powerful  minister,  strong 
in  the  force  of  his  own  charactei",  in  the  support  of  the 
King,  and  in  the  affections  of  a  reunited  people,  Lasker  is 
the  private  deputy  whose  consummate  ability  the  govern- 
ment is  obliged  to  respect,  and  whose  unselfish  devotion 
to  liberal  principles  the  people  are  glad  to  acknowledge. 
If  Prince  Hohenlohe,  the  scion  of  a  house  which  had  done 
homage  to  Frederick  Barbarossa,  has  w'on  a  high  rank  in 
a  profession  which  has  always  shared  with  the  army  the 
favor  of  the  aristocracy,  Lasker  has  won  an  influence  on 
domestic  legislation  quite  unparalleled  in  Germany.  If 
Simson  and  Bennigseu  are  satisfied  to  preside  over  deli- 
berations that  they  cannot  direct,  Lasker,  refusing  any  dis- 
tinction which  he  had  not  earned,  would  likewise  refuse 
any  distinction  not  accompanied  by  power.  He  is  the 
leading  Commoner  of  Prussia,  just  as  Waldeck  was  twenty 
years  ago.     The  difference  is  that  Waldeck  was  a  radical 


EDUARD   LASKER.  II5 

leader  in  the  days  when  Prussia  was  slowly  fighting  her 
way  to  a  settled  constitutional  system,  while  Lasker  is  the 
leader  of  an  established  majority  not  only  in  Prussia,  but 
in  the  more  spacious  arena  of  German  politics. 

The  official  record  of  his  career,  as  given  in  the  parlia- 
mentary almanacs,  is,  up  to  a  certain  point,  not  unlike  that 
of  the  great  body  of  German  barristers.  He  was  born  in 
Berlin  on  the  14th  of  October,  1829,  a  Jew.  After  a  pre- 
liminary course  at  the  Elizabeth  Gymnasium  in  Breslau, 
he  entered  the  university  of  the  same  city,  in  1847,  and 
graduated  a  doctor  of  laws  in  1851.  He  then  became 
pro  forma  an  Ausculialor  at  the  Municipal  Court  of  Berlin. 
Soon  afterwards  he  removed  to  England,  where  he  lived 
two  or  three  years.  The  compiler  of  the  almanac  does 
not  state  the  object  of  this  voluntary  exile  ;  but  I  believe 
that  it  was  the  young  advocate's  intention  to  make  England 
his  permanent  home,  and  to  pursue  there,  under  more  fav- 
orable advantages,  his  chosen  profession.  Be  that  as  it 
may,  his  plans  were  subsequently  changed.  In  1856,  he 
reappeared  in  Berlin  and  passed  the  next  stage  of  his  judi- 
cial career,  that  of  Assessor.  In  1870,  he  abandoned  the 
bench  and  resumed  the  practice  of  the  law  as  an  advocate. 
He  was  first  elected  to  the  House  of  Deputies  from  the  4th 
Berlin  district,  in  1865,  and  was  re-elected  in  1866.  Up 
to  the  batde  of  Sadowa,  he  had  been  classed  with  the 
advanced  Liberals  ;  but  after  that  event  and  the  modified 
situation  which  followed,  he  abandoned  his  old  associates 
and  aided  to  found  the  National  Liberal  party.  In  the 
North  German  Confederation  he  was  a  member  of  the  Con- 
stituent Reichstag,  and  of  the  subsequent  legislative  Reichs- 
tags.    When  the  Empire  was  organized  and  an  Imperial 


Il6  BRIEF   BIOGRAPIIIES. 

Reichstag — no  tautology  will  be  detected  here  by  people 
who  know  that  the  German  word  Reich  does  not  designate 
a  form  of  government — was  elected,  Lasker  was  the  suc- 
cessful candidate  in  half-a-dozen  districts,  and  accepted  the 
election  for  the  second  district  in  the  Duchy  of  Saxe-Meinin- 
gen.  In  the  Prussian  Landtag,  he  now  sits  for  Frankfort  on 
the  Main.  Aside  from  parliamentary  work,  he  is  solicitor 
of  the  "  Deutsche  Baden-Credit  Bank,"  or.  Credit  Fon^ier. 
These  outlines  of  Lasker's  life  afford  abundant  subject 
for  reflection.  It  would  be  interesting  to  trace  the  proba- 
ble reasoning  which  led  the  young  advocate  to  abandon 
his  native  land  and  all  hopes  of  preferment  among  his  own 
people  ;  and  it  could  doubtless  be  found  that,  like  so  many 
of  his  countrymen,  he  saw  at  that  time  very  little  promise 
of  a  real  constitutionalism,  under  which  merit  alone  should 
prevail.  It  would  be  curious  to  speculate  on  the  result  for 
him  and  England,  if  he  had  not  returned  to  Germany.  The 
position  which  he  has  acquired  in  Germany  would  hardly 
have  been  opened  to  him  in  England.  Political  prejudice 
may  not  be  so  strong  there  as  in  Germany,  but  social  pre- 
judices are  far  stronger ;  and  the  race  which  in  the  latter 
country  has  fought  its  way  upward  in  art,  literature,  in 
legislation,  in  every  field  where  genius  prevails,  has  in 
English  politics  but  one  striking  representative,  and  he 
has  not  retained  the  faith.  But  for  that,  the  tremen- 
dous social  opposition  which  he  met,  would  perhaps  have 
mastered  him.  Lasker  is  far  honester  than  Disraeli.  He 
has  clung  to  his  original  Hebrew  faith  in  spite  of  all  the 
advantages  which  apostasy  offered  to  an  ambitious  man,  and 
his  political  integrity  is  out  of  the  reach  of  slander.  His 
virtues  would  perhaps  have  been  respected,  but  in  private 


EDUARD    LASKER.  II7 

life,  by  the  English.  If  he  had  remained  in  London,  he 
would  have  learned  to  pronounce  English  with  a  strong 
accent  of  which  he  himself  would  have  been  delightfully  un- 
conscious ;  he  would  have  become  a  clever  little  attorney 
with  a  good  run  of  petty  cases,  especially  among  his  fellow 
emigrants  ;  and  in  his  leisure,  he  would  have  written  ele- 
gant correspondence  for  German  journals  and  reviews. 
But  the  German  Parliament  would  have  lost  in  him  a  legis- 
lator of  splendid  and  sustained  abilities,  and  the  German 
youth  the  example  of  a  patriot  who  is  a  statesman  from  a 
sense  of  duty,  of  a  citizen  above  reproach. 

Again,  one  may  draw  with  tolerable  accuracy  the  outlines 
of  such  a  judicial  career  as  Lasker,  with  the  indispensable 
encouragement,  might  have  pursued.  The  indispensable 
encouragement  was  that  of  the  crown  or  of  the  authorities 
who  represented  the  crown.  But  the  authorities  of  those 
days  were  devoted  conservatives,  and  they  won  the  favor  of 
a  king  who  professed  just  motives  of  conduct,  by  dis- 
tributing his  bounty  with  a  jealous  care  for  the  interests  of 
altar  and  throne.  Lasker  could  claim  no  special  sympathy 
with  those  interests.  He  had  indeed  sworn  a  formal  alle- 
giance to  his  sovereign,  but  he  was  a  strong  liberal  and,  in 
the  jargon  of  the  "  Wilhelmstrasse,"  liberalism  then  meant 
disloyalty.  He  was  the  subject  of  a  Christian  king,  but 
the  constitution  permitted  him  formally  to  adhere  to  his 
native  faith.  A  radical  and  a  Jew,  he  united  in  himself 
the  two  most  formidable  barriers  to  professional  preferment. 
For  twelve  years,  from  1858  to  1870,  he  filled  the  humble, 
unsalaried  post  of  assessor  at  the  Berlin  Municipal  Court, 
and  retired  after  the  experience  that  there  was  no  opening 
in  the  judiciary  for  him.     During  that  time,  he  had  seen 


Il8  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

promoted  over  his  head  armies  of  young  candidates  in  the 
same  service.  They  wanted  his  ability,  it  is  true,  and  his 
courage,  and  his  independence,  and  nearly  all  the  qualities 
which  dignify  manhood,  but  they  were  brilliant  defenders 
of  the  conservative  interests  of  society,  and,  above  all,  of 
that  form  of  conservative  interests  which  had  been  intrusted 
to  the  royal  ministry  of  Justice.  Nor  did  they  hide  their 
light  under  a  bushel.  They  fearfully  extolled  from  the 
bench  the  beneficence  of  the  existing  reign,  they  boldly 
vindicated  their  official  superiors  in  the  evening  club  at  the 
beer-house.  Lasker  was  more  timid,  or  perhaps  less  servile. 
Regarding  his  position  as  one  which  he  had  a  right,  as  a 
Prussian  subject,  to  claim,  and  demanding  a  promotion 
which  was  justified  by  his  great  talents,  he  would  not  pur- 
chase favor  by  the  prostitution  either  of  his  office  or  his 
opinions.  He  did  not  indeed  shrink  from  expressing  such 
opinions  as  he  conscientiously  held  and  might  legally  pub- 
lish. In  the  political  clubs  he  was  known  as  a  brilliant 
and  captivating  radical  orator,  in  periodicals  his  graceful 
pen  discussed  the  pressing  questions  of  the  day.  But  this 
temerity  was,  of  course,  fatal  to  him.  The  more  he  spoke 
and  wrote,  the  less  favorable  became  his  hopes  of  profes- 
sional success. 

At  the  same  time,  this  invidious  partiality  may  have  been 
a  real,  though  disguised,  blessing.  Lasker  the  judge  would 
have  excluded  Lasker  the  parliamentary  leader,  and  the 
history  of  Prussia  and  Germany  might  have  been  other 
than  what  it  is.  If  he  had  been  a  sound  reactionist  and 
had  had  aristocratic  connections,  when  he  began  his  legal 
career  twenty  years  ago-,  he  would  have  enjoyed  every  pro- 
motion through  the  several  stages  of  an  advocate's  career ; 


EDUARD   LASKER,  II9 

would  have  found  an  early  entrance  into  the  judiciary,  and 
would  now  have  a  high  position  on  the  bench  and  a  good 
salary.  But,  in  that  case,  he  would  have  been  only  a  wheel 
in  the  mechanism  of  the  State,  whereas  Providence  had 
reserved  him  for  a  higher  destiny. 

Coming  into  public  life,  or,  at  least  into  prominence,  at 
the  close  of  the  Conflikis-Zcit,  Lasker  enjo}-s  the  advan- 
tage of  freedom  from  the  still  glowing  animosities  of  that 
period.  His  first  election,  as  stated  above,  was  in  the  year 
1865.  He  then  belonged  to  the  "Party  of  Progress," 
which  had  united  in  opposition  to  the  reactionary  policy  of 
the  ministry  all  the  undaunted  liberal  spirits  ;  but,  obeying 
scruples  of  modesty,  if  no  others,  he  did  not  at  once  take 
a  prominent  part  in  the  debate.  While  Sadowa  was  fought, 
Lasker  watched  the  battle  as  a  silent  member.  After 
Sadowa  had  been  fought  and  won,  party  relations  were 
changed  ;  and  it  may  be  said  that  Lasker's  parliamentary 
career  began  first  with  the  reconciliation  made  in  1866, 
and  the  new  era  ushered  in  by  that  famous  transaction. 

Not  an  inaccurate  theory  of  Lasker's  parliamentary  posi- 
tion even  at  that  time,  that  is  to  say  after  he  became  leader 
of  the  National  Liberal  party,  is  hinted  at  in  the  last 
number  of  the  Greitzbofen  :  ' '  The  greater  part  of  the  Nation- 
al Liberal  party,"  says  the  writer,  "  is  liberal  conservative  ; 
yet  the  party  is  generally  led  by  some  men  of  great  talents, 
of  whom  the  majority  ought,  according  to  their  political 
principles,  to  lead  the  party  of  progress."  The  liberal 
party  certainly  counts  many  other  able  men,  some  of  whom 
bear,  perhaps,  with  impatience  the  sway  of  a  young  Hebrew 
lawyer.  Some  of  these  have  already  been  or  will  be  treated 
in  this   volume.     Such,    fbr  instance,    are  Heinrich   von 


I20  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

Treitschke,  who  had  a  reputation  as  a  historical  student 
and  a  graceful  writer,  long  before  he  became  a  politician, 
and  who  is  one  of  the  staunchest  and  healthiest  of 
Liberals  ;  Bennigsen,  who  has  at  least  paternal  claim  on  the 
leadership  ;  and  Dr.  Simson,  who  enjoys  the  respect  of  all 
parties.  There  is  furthermore  Max  von  Forckenbeck,  the 
successor  of  Simson  and  present  Speaker  of  the  Reichslag, 
a  Liberal,  although  a  nominal  Roman  Catholic,  Burgomas- 
ter of  the  City  of  Breslau.  in  Silesia,  and  one  of  the  younger 
politicians  of  Prussia.  He  has  made  himself  familiar  with 
the  duties  of  his  place,  and  enjoys  the  support  of  the 
whole  House  ;  but  he  lacks  a  good  voice  and  a  dignified 
manner,  which  our  prejudices  exact  of  the  speaker  of  such 
an  assembly.  Louis  Bamberger,  one  of  the  exiles  of  1848, 
is  a  practical  banker,  and  speaks  frequently  on  financial 
questions  ;  Carl  Braun,  a  journalist  and  advocate,  is  a 
clever  and  popular  speaker  on  general  subjects  ;  Schulte 
is  active  in  the  ecclesiastical  conflict ;  Heinrich  Oppenheim 
is  another  authority  on  economical  topics  ;  and  there  are 
many  others  whose  absence  from  these  pages  implies  no 
indifference  to  their  merits.  But  none  of  these  can  dispute 
with  Lasker  the  leadership  of  the  majority.  He  is  not  only 
the  leader  by  virtue  of  superior  talents  which  always  assert 
themselves,  but  in  consequence  of  a  formal  choice  by  the 
party  itself.  He  is  its  forensic  organ  ;  he  announces  in  Par- 
liament its  resolutions  ;  and,  when  necessary,  he  sustains 
them  by  all  the  force  of  his  eloquence. 

I  have  spoken  ofLasker's  oratorical  abilities,  but  it  would 
be  more  just  to  call  him  the  first  of  German  debaters.  His 
parliamentary  eff"orts  have  more  of  the  English  practical, 
realistic  character,  and  less  of  the  art  and  method  of  France 


EDUARD   LASKER.  121 

or  America.  One  searches  in  vain  through  Lasker's 
speeches,  and,  indeed,  through  the  entire  literature  of 
Germany,  for  such  symmetrical  and  finished  specimens  of 
oratorical  art  as  tho^e  of  the  great  French  divines,  of  Ber- 
ryerand  the  masters  of  French  form,  or  of  the  famous  orators 
of  the  United  States.  It  does  not  lie  in  the  genius  of  the 
German  people,  much  less  in  that  of  Lasker  himself  He 
wants  many  qualities  which  are  almost  essential  to  a  great 
orator.  He  has  neither  an  imposing  figure,  nor  a  dignified 
presence,  nor  a  sonorous  voice.  He  is  about  as  small  as 
Earl  Russell ;  and,  although  a  man  of  more  natural  talent, 
he  has  never  held,  like  the  former,  positions  which  bring 
responsibility  and  authority.  He  is  the  delight  of  the  Ber- 
lin gamitis,  the  pet  of  the  comic  press.  He  is  the  parlia- 
mentary Puck,  and  one  expects  him  to  burst  forth  : 

"  Up  and  down,  up  and  down, 
I  will  lead  them  up  and  down  : 
I  am  feared  in  field  and  town  ; 
Goblin,  lead  them  up  and  down." 

He  would  be  an  admirable  prime  minister  in  the  king- 
dom of  Lilliput.  In  spite  of  the  solemnity  of  his  manner, 
he  seems  always  to  be  an  escaped  member  of  some  fairy 
band, — an  elf  or  sprite, — and  it  would  be  thought  the 
most  natural  thing  in  the  world,  if  he  should  be  seen  scam- 
pering over  the  top  of  the  desks,  kicking  over  the  inkstands 
of  grave  deputies,  and  pulling  their  shaggy  beards.  The 
other  short  men  of  the  Reichstag  do  not  cause  such  an  im- 
pression. Delbriick  is  also  very  short,  but  he  never  im- 
presses as  being  unusually,  much  less  ludicrously,  so. 
Windthorst,  the  ultramontane  leader,  is  very  small,  but  his 
manner  is  so  aggressive,  and  his  wit  so  ferocious,  that  in 
6 


122  BRIEF   BIOGRAnilES. 

hearing  him  speak  one  adds  several  feet  to  his  stature. 
Lasker,  on  the  other  hand,  is  the  most  earnest  man  in  the 
House,  but  the  contrast  with  his  size  always  ends  in  a 
sense  of  the  ludicrous.  The  solemnity  is  more  absurd  be- 
cause unexpected.  If  Lasker  were  more  sprightly,  he 
would  not  so  often  suggest  the  si)rite.  If  he  had  more  wit, 
he  would  excite  less  laughter. 

His  voice  is  high  and,  notwithstanding  a  slight  lisp, 
very  clear.  Few  speakers  make  themselves  heard  more 
easily,  not  only  in  the  Prussian  House  of  Deputies,  but 
also  against  the  wretched  acoustics  of  the  Reichslag  ;  and 
few  could  throw  so  much  emphasis  into  so  modest  an 
organ.  These  merits  he  owes  in  great  part  to  his  singular 
articulation.  Higginson  has  said  that  an  essay  of  Emer- 
son is  like  a  string  of  pearls,  because  the  sentences  may  be 
told  off,  one  by  one,  each  complete  in  itself  The  same 
description  may  be  applied  to  the  articulation  of  Las- 
ker. The  words  drop  from  his  tongue,  clear  and  sharp, 
like  the  ticking  of  a  rapid  pendulum  ;  and  he  has  a  habit 
of  accumulating  speed  as  he  moves  through  a  sentence  till 
the  end,  when  he  lets  his  voice  drop  plumply  on  the  last 
word,  and  begins  again.  It  is  somewhat  mechanical,  and 
even  monotonous,  but  very  eifective  in  debate.  His  fluency 
is  of  that  perfect  kind,  which  is  not  simply  command  of 
words,  but  which  never  wants  for  sentences  or  thoughts. 
His  speeches  sound  like  perpetual  perorations.  One  ex- 
pects that  each  sentence  is  the  culmination.  While  this 
feature,  by  deceiving  the  patience  of  hearers,  secures  their 
unbroken  attention,  it  mars  the  effect  of  a  discourse  as  a 
work  of  art,  and,  with  increased  familiarity,  becomes  a 
tedious  mannerism.       Unfortunately,  Lasker,    like  many 


EDUARD    LASKER.  I23 

Other  fluent  and  ready  speakers,  is  not  sufficiently  sparing 
of  his  gifts.  His  position  as  spokesman  of  the  National 
Liberal  party  gives  him,  of  course,  great  authority,  and  his 
ability  and  earnestness  give  him  still  more  ;  but  his  ora- 
tory has  not  improved  during  the  past  year  or  two,  and 
many  people  believe  that  his  power  over  an  audience  is  on 
the  wane. 

Several  of  Lasker's  public  or  parliamentary  efforts  have 
attained  the  rank  of  historical  events.  One  of  these  was 
a  eulogy  delivered  at  the  grave  of  his  friend  and  Liberal 
colleague,  Twesten.  Lasker,  as  has  been  explained,  is  a 
zealous  and  uncompromising  Jew,  and  Twesten,  though  a 
Liberal  and  a  member  of  the  party  which  the  former  led, 
was- an  equally  steadfast  Protestant ;  but  this  did  not  pre- 
vent Lasker  from  saying,  at  the  tomb  of  his  friend,  words 
which  were  acceptable  to  both  Hebrew  and  Christian. 
The  discourse  was  printed  and  obtained  a  wide  circulation. 
It  was  more  artistically  constructed  than  his  parliamentary 
speeches  ;  and  while  it  revealed  a  good  command  of  the 
resources  of  rhetoric,  and  a  finely  trained  critical  faculty, 
it  was  not  without  those  more  feeling  passages  which  dis- 
close the  emotion  of  a  bereaved  friend. 

Lasker's  most  memorable  parliamentary  triumph  was  pro- 
bably the  exposure  of  what  is  known  as  the  Northern  Rail- 
way scandal  ;  and  the  overthrow  of  the  Minister  of  Com- 
merce, Count  Itzenplitz.  A  few  words  will  explain  this 
achievement,  which  had  a  social  as  well  as  a  political 
significance.  Its  social  significance  lay  in  the  fact  that  it 
was  the  triumph  of  an  honest,  radical  Jew  over  speculating, 
Christian  aristocrats  ;  its  political  significance,  in  the  fact 
that  parliamentary  pressure,  supported  by  public  indigna- 


124  BRIEF  BIOGRAPHIES. 

tion,  v/as  able  to  expel  a  favorite  minister  of  the  king.  If 
there  was  one  thing  more  than  another  which  confirmed  the 
aversion  of  the  Prussian  aristocracy  to  commercial  occupa- 
tions, it  was  the  theory,  which  was  by  no  means  unsup- 
ported by  facts,  that  they  were  the  chosen  domain  of  the 
Israelites.  This  was  especially  true  of  that  large  class  of 
financial  enterprises  which  involve  elements  of  risk,  and  in 
which  a  striking  audacity, — hovering  along  the  borders  of 
that  region  where  the  daring  becomes  the  dishonest — the 
speculator,  the  swindler, — is  even  more  important,  as  a  source 
of  power,  than  capital  and  patience.  Even  when  individual 
nobles,  driven  by  necessity  or  some  higher  cause,  entered 
upon  a  career  of  trade  and  sent  their  ships  abroad  over  the 
seas,  like  Antonio,  it  was  a  tradition  that  they  always  fell  a 
prey  to  the  Shylock  of  their  time  and  country.  It  is  not 
worth  while  to  dispute  about  what  was  cause  and  what 
effect,  whether  the  aristocracy  shrank  from  business  because 
it  was  in  the  hands  of  Jews,  or  the  Jews  usurped  the  field 
because  it  was  neglected  by  the  aristocracy.  That  is  per- 
haps a  question,  but  the  fact  itself  is  clear  enough.  The 
Spaniard  Quevedo,  whenever  he  heard  of  a  quarrel 
between  two  men,  always  asked  :  "Who  is  the  woman  ?" 
In  Germany,  when  a  startling  commercial  scheme  became 
known,  or  an  imposing  swindle  was  revealed,  the  country 
gentlemen  asked,  "  Is  his  name  Isaac,  or  Jacob,  or  Moses.?" 
One  may  easily  believe  that  it  was  not  less  a  pleasure  than 
a  duty  for  Lasker  to  show  the  other  side  of  this  picture. 
During  the  session  of  1873,  he  made  a  speech  on  the  bud- 
get, in  which  he  declared  that  a  regular  system  of  fraud 
was  in  operation  in  the  ministry  of  commerce,  by  winch 
cer'.ain  persons  were  using  their  official  position  to  rriak? 


EDUARD    LASKER.  1 25 

themselves  rich.  He  specified  two  men,  both  of  aristo- 
cratic blood  and  connections,  and  one  a  great  favorite  of 
Prince  Bismarck  himself.  The  latter  was  a  sub-official  in 
the  ministry  of  commerce ;  and  Lasker  charged  that  he 
had  granted  or  promised  the  granting  of  railway '  conces- 
sions with  an  over  prudent  regard  for  the  interests  of  him- 
self and  his  friends.  He  demanded  a  parliamentary  inves- 
tigation. It  happened  that  honest  and  reactionary  old 
General  von  Roon  was,  at  that  time,  playing  the  comedy  of 
minister-president,  and  he  resented  this  assault  upon  the 
flower  of  Prussian  Junkerdom.  In  answer  to  Lasker's 
speech,  he  promised,  indeed,  to  have  the  matter  examined, 
but  with  rare  temerity  he  pronounced  the  charges  false. 
Lasker  accepted  this  challenge.  In  two  long  and  masterly 
speeches  which  were  exhaustive  accounts  of  the  railwa}  s  at 
issue,  and  which  were  full  of  the  most  astounding  revela- 
tions, he  not  only  persuaded  the  House  to  grant  the 
desired  investigation,  but  he  even  convinced  von  Roon 
himself  that  the  charges  were  true.  The  latter  was  frank 
enough  to  rise  and  say  that  if  he  had  known  the  facts  before, 
he  would  never  have  made  the  statement  that  he  made. 
The  investigation  by  a  mixed  commission,  appointed  by 
the  government  and  the  House,  was  acccordingly  held. 
The  result  was  that  the  inculpated  official  was  dismissed  ; 
and  the  minister  of  commerce,  whose  negligence  and  inef- 
ficiency had  proved  so  costly,  was  forced  by  public  opinion 
to  retire. 

A  year  later  the  liberal  leader  arraigned  another  illustri- 
ous personage,  Prince  Putbus.  He  also  had  built  railways, 
and,  according  to  Lasker,  had  been  guilty  of  practices  which 
revealed  genius  indeed,  but  a  species  of  genius  which  by 


126  BRIEF   BIOGRArHIES. 

rigid  moralists  is  looked  on  with  disfavor.  Putbus  was 
very  angry.  His  aristocratic  blood  boiled  at  this  interfer- 
ence of  an  heterodox  plebeian  with  his  financial  operations, 
and  he  demanded  a  military  court  of  inquiry.  He  is  an 
officer  of  the  Landwehr,  and  he  asked  a  court  of  his  com- 
rades to  say  whether  he  had  done  anything  unworthy  of 
his  honor,  as  a  soldier  and  a  gentleman.  This  court  ac- 
quitted him,  and  the  subject  dropped. 

It  is  one  of  the  infirmities  of  human  nature  that  the  dis- 
covery of  sin  is  a  secret  pleasure,  when  the  sinners  are  our 
enemies  ;  and  Eduard  Lasker  is  not  above  humanity.  But 
if  his  relations  to  the  alleged  swindles  did  sharpen  his  re- 
forming zeal,  it  has  not  been  disputed  that  the  effect  of  his 
exposures  was  wholesome  in  the  highest  sense.  They  tore 
aside  forever  the  heavy  veil  of  social  prejudice,  which  had 
so  long  shielded  the  deeds  of  the  noblesse  from  the  eye  of 
public  criticism  ;  and  placed  the  golden  rule  of  integrity  on 
a  thoroughly  democratic  basis.  They  made  Lasker  the 
most  popular  man  in  Prussia.  He  was  admired  as  the 
great  tribune  of  the  people,  and  loved  as  warmly  as  he  was 
admired.  Of  course,  the  ministers  were  annoyed  at  these 
uncanonical  feats  on  the  part  of  the  leader  of  the  govern- 
ment majority,  in  Parliament.  They  could  not  exactly 
defend  established  guilt,  nor  could  they  ask  His  Majesty  to 
countenance  these  awkward  assaults  upon  the  court  favor- 
ites. They  were  placed  in  an  embarrassing  dilemma,  from 
which  they  have  not  yet  escaped.  But  the  bold  little 
deputy,  who  created  the  dilemma,  won  fresh  parliamentary 
laurels  and  the  respect  of  all  good  citizens. 

Of  other  important  events  in  Lasker's  public  career,  I 
recall  his  vindication  of  parliamentary  privilege  in  the  case 


EDUARD   LASKER.  12/ 

of  a  Catholic  deputy,  who  had  been  arrested  by  order  of 
the  government  during  the  session  ;  iiis  skillful  plea  for  an 
imperial  bank,  which,  at  first  unsuccessful  on  a  question 
of  form,  finally  won  the  substance  of  the  cause  ;  his  elab- 
orate and  masterly  speeches  on  law  reform,  the  last,  and 
not  the  least  striking,  being  that  of  December,  1875,  in 
which  he  spoke  for  the  majority  of  the  Liberals  against  the 
reactionary  proposals  of  the  government  ;  and  finally  a 
variety  of  speeches  on  the  ecclesiastical  issue,  the  only  one, 
perhaps,  on  which  he  accepts  without  reserve  the  position 
and  views  of  the  ministry.  These  speeches  reveal  the  most 
singular  relations  that  have,  perhaps,  ever  bound  the  leader 
of  a  parliamentary  majority  to  a  government.  If  there  be 
any  government  party  in  German  or  Prussian  politics  it  is 
the  National  Liberal  party.  The  majority  in  the  Reichstag, 
as  in  the  Landtag,  are  associated  with  the  measures  of  Prince 
Bismarck,  for  unity  and  against  Ultramontanism,  and  are  al- 
ways referred  to  as  the  ministerial  party.  In  the  elections 
the  semi-official  press  always  supports  the  candidates  of 
this  party.  I  remember,  a  year  ago,  after  the  elections 
for  the  Reichstag,  the  Provinzial  Correspondcjiz,  the  most 
authoritative  organ  of  the  government,  congratulated  the 
country  that  the  center  of  parliamentary  gravity  would  con- 
tinue to  lie  in  the  National  Liberal  party.  But  neither 
Bismarck  himself,  nor  a  single  one  of  his  ministerial  subor- 
dinates, is  a  member  of  that  party.  The  minister  of  war 
is  a  strict  Conservative.  Dr.  Falk  and  the  ministers  of 
commerce  and  of  agriculture  belong  to  the  Free  Conser- 
vatives. Camphausen  and  Delbriick  are  so-called  Old 
Liberals,  and  now  build  a  glorious  party  of  their  own. 
And  if  the  ministers  have  few  actual  connections  with  the 


128  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

National  Liberals,  these  latter,  on  the  other  hand,  have 
very  little  sympathy  with  the  ministers.  Under  a  strict 
parliamentary  government  every  one  of  them,  except  Bis- 
marck himself,  would  disappear. 

As  the  leader  of  the  Liberals,  Lasker  is,  more  than  any 
other,  responsible  for  the  attitude  of  the  party.  His  influ- 
ence in  shaping  its  extra-parliamentary  resolutions  is  no 
less  marked  than  his  ability  in  defending  those  resolutions 
before  Parliament.  But  since  the  defense  of  the  party  in 
the  majority  of  cases  implies  opposition  to  the  measures 
proposed  by  the  government,  and  as  Lasker  is  a  legislator 
who  never  shrinks  from  the  most  extreme  statement  of  his 
views,  it  follows  that,  as  a  nominal  friend  of  the  ministry,  he 
must  be  one  of  those  uncomfortable  friends  whose  benevo- 
lent candor  is  little  less  dangerous  than  open  hostility.  He 
is  the  kindly  critic  who  exacts  more  than  the  opposition. 
His  support  for  bills  is  won  only  when  they  have  been 
shorn  of  all  the  features  that  the  government  most  prizes. 
Hence  Prince  Bismarck  is  much  better  satisfied  when  the 
most  bitter  Ultramontane  takes  the  floor  than  when  this 
valiant  but  captious  ally  tears  his  schemes  into  pieces, 
under  pretense  of  making  friendly  suggestions. 

If  Lasker  had  not  become  a  practical  politician,  he  would 
have  been  one  of  the  first  of  political  critics.  His  published 
writings  are  equally  ma'rked  by  elegance  of  style,  keenness 
of  thought,  and  breadth  of  scholarship  ;  and  long  before 
he  won  a  parliamentary  reputation,  they  were  eagerly  ac- 
cepted by  the  first  periodicals  of  Germany.  He  wrote 
mainly  on  political  and  social  topics,  and  one  or  two 
volumes  of  his  essays  have  been  collected  and  published. 


X. 


Herr  Windthorst. 


|E  come  now  to  the  defenders  of  the  sacred  order 
in  politics,  to  the  champions  of  the  Church 
against  the  legislation  of  the  State.  They  repre- 
sent the  universal  spirit  of  opposition.  They  have  as  ener- 
getic a  hatred  of  the  Old  Protestants  who  hold  a  mistaken 
faith,  as  of  the  extreme  radicals  who  hold  no  faith  what- 
ever. With  them  all  the  results  of  pure  political  action, 
not  inspired  by  the  precepts  or  sanctioned  by  the  consent 
of  the  Church,  are  but  unsubstantial  dreams ;  yet  this  fact, 
or  this  conviction,  lessens  in  no  degree  the  vigor  and  zeal 
of  their  resistance.  If  their  kingdom  were  truly  of  this 
world,  and  its  prizes  piously  to  be  sought,  they  could  not 
act  their  parliamentary  parts  with  a  more  studied  skill. 

The  Ultramontanes,  as  a  party,  share  with  the  National 
Liberals  the  debating  talent  of  the  country.  Three  of 
their  members,  Mallinckrodt,  Reichensperger,  and  Windt- 
horst, have  carried  on  their  side  of  the  ecclesiastical  con- 
test with  a  skill,  an  audacity,  and  a  persistence  which  are 
6* 


130  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

not  the  less  admirable,  because  they  are  exerted  in  a  hope- 
less cause.  The  first  of  these  hardy  champions  has  been 
removed  by  death  from  the  field  of  politics.  But  Her- 
mann von  Mallinckrodt  is  so  conspicuous  a  figure  in  the 
modern  Parliamentary  life  of  Germany,  and  his  part  is  so 
closely  connected  with  the  greatest  political  issue  of  these 
days,  that  even  the  traditions  of  his  incisive  eloquence  have 
a  present  value.  A  member  of  the  Catholic  aristocracy  of 
Westphalia,  he  could,  perhaps,  trace  his  family  connec- 
tions and  his  religious  heritage  back  to  Saint  Boniface 
himself.  In  more  prosperous  times,  he  was  employed  in 
the  local  administration  of  the  province,  just  as  he  was  an 
active  supporter  of  the  Government  ten  years  ago,  when 
Bismarck  was  trying  to  strangle  Liberalism  instead  of  Ultra- 
montanism.  After  the  outbreak  of  the  ecclesiastical  con- 
flict, Mallinckrodt  was  one  of  the  most  determined  leaders 
of  the  Opposition.  He  was  not  only  a  man  of  broad  gen- 
eral culture,  but,  in  certain  subjects,  such,  for  instance,  as 
Church  history  and  dogma,  he  was  a  profound  and  accu- 
rate scholar,  and  almost  the  only  Catholic  member  who 
could  carry  the  debates  up  to  that  elevation.  In  him  Dr. 
Falk  and  Professor  Gneist  found  no  unworthy  foe.  In  an 
intellectual  sense  his  speaking  was  of  the  very  highest  sort. 
He  was  not  a  great  orator  to  sway  a  popular  audience,  for 
his  manner  w'as  cold  and  unsympathetic  ;  but  he  knew 
how  to  rivet  the  general  attention  by  the  closeness  of  his 
logic  and  terrify  his  enemies  by  the  power  of  his  sarcasm. 
His  delivery  was  quite  unlike  the  German  type.  He  was 
calm,  moderate,  and  full  of  self-possession  ;  he  was  familiar 
with  all  the  little  arts  of  gesticulation  and  elocution,  and 
his  speeches  were  specimens  of  polished  and  masterly  in- 


IIERR   WINDTIIORST.  Ijl 

vective.  In  spite  of  the  exasperating  effect  of  his  oratory, 
Mallinckrodt  was  perhaps  more  generally  respected  than 
any  of  his  Ultramontane  colleagues.  When  he  died,  not 
the  Catholic  press  alone  paid  his  memory  tribute,  but  the 
Liberal  journals  mourned  the  loss  of  a  stalwart  foe  and  an 
accomplished  Parliamentary  debator.  Peter  Reichensper- 
ger,  the  second  member  of  this  triumvirate,  is  cast  in  a  dif- 
ferent mould.  He  was  a  leading  jurist  and  a  judge  before 
he  became  a  leader  of  the  "Centre;  "  and,  if  that  party  had 
not  been  created  by  the  exigencies  of  the  times,  he  would 
have  lived  and  died  a  consistent  servant  of  the  State,  In- 
deed, he  has  never  quite  forgotten  the  jurist  in  the  legis- 
lator. In  his  political  views  and  in  his  political  methods, 
he  is  more  considerate  that  his  two  colleagues.  His 
speeches  are  carefully  prepared,  and  are  concise,  lucid,  and 
cogent.  As  he  discusses  the  Church  question  in  ihe  tone 
and  with  the  air  of  a  man  who  conscientiously  feels  a 
grievance,  instead  of  making  it  a  text  on  which  to  say  dis- 
agreeable things  of  adversaries,  he  is  more  fairly  treated 
by  his  associates,  and  serves  his  own  cause  not  the  less 
efiiciently. 

Both  these  two  men  must,  however,  in  the  order  of 
talents  and  influence,  give  way  to  Louis  Windthorst.  The 
biographical  sketch  of  him,  which  I  find  in  the  parliamen- 
tary handbook,  reads  as  if  written  by  himself  It  is  short 
and  unpretentious,  and  seems  to  reveal  the  same  contempt 
for  autobiographical  arts  and  opportunities  that  he  shows 
for  shams  and  pretenders  in  parliamentary  life.  It  is  worth 
reproducing  entire  : 

"Windthorst,  Ludwig,  ex-Minister  of  State  in  Hanover. 
Born   17  January,  18 12.     Roman  Catholic.     Attended  the 


132  BRIEF   BIOGRArHIES. 

'Carolinum'  in  Osnabriick,  and  studied  in  Gottingen 
and  Heidelberg.  Was,  first,  advocate,  then  syndic  and 
presiding  member  of  the  Consistory  at  Osnabrilck  ;  after- 
wards Ober-Ap[>ellationsrath  in  Kalbe  ;  1 851-1853  and 
1 862-1 865,  Minister  of  Justice  in  Hanover  ;  finally  Chief 
Syndic  of  the  Crown  in  Kalbe.  1849-66,  member  of  the 
Assembly  of  the  Estates  of  the  Realm,  and  in  1851  presi- 
dent of  the  second  Chamber  of  the  same  ;  member  of  the 
Constituent  and  \\\q^  xo.gwX'^x  Reichstag,  and  since  1867,  of 
the  Prussian  House  of  Deputies  ;  re-elected  for  the  third 
district  of  the  Province  of  Hanover." 

This  is  the  list  of  the  public  positions  filled  by  Windt- 
horst  ;  unfortunately  it  includes  no  account  of  the  way  in 
which  he  has  filled  them.  If  it  had  been  written  by  his 
great  enemy,  Bismarck,  or  his  rival,  Lasker,  the  world 
would  have  tested  their  candor  and  magnanimity  by  the 
degree  of  recognition  expressed  by  them  for  the  extraor- 
dinary talents,  the  unrivalled  sagacity  of  this  leader  of  the 
Ultramontane  faction.  But  those  critical  observations 
which  are  forbidden  to  Windthorst's  own  pen,  or  by  the 
dignity  of  a  parliamentary  annual,  may  be  found  and  ap- 
propriated in  other  places.  Not  the  least  of  the  merits  of 
this  deputy  is  that  of  picturesqueness.  He  imparts  variety 
to  the  debates,  and  illuminates  them  by  those,  sudden  ele- 
ments of  the  incongruous,  the  sense  of  which  is  said  to  be 
the  basis  of  laughter.  The  cause  of  picturesqueness  him- 
self, he  is  at  the  same  time  a  capital  subject  for  picturesque 
description.  Wax  Ring  has,  perhaps,  not  made  the  most 
of  his  subject,  and  his  closing  estimate  of  Windthorst  is 
patronizingly  inadequate,  but  for  an  evidently  hostile  critic 
he  is  not  altogether  and  wholly  unjust. 


IIERR   WINDTIIORST.  I33 

"If  we  turn  now  toward  the  Centre,"  he  says,  "our 
attention  is  immediately  drawn  to  one  of  the  most  inter- 
esting and  best  known  characters  of  the  Reichslag.  Directly 
opposite  the  president's  chair,  in  the  first  row,  buried  in 
thought,  sits  a  plump  little  man  with  a  bald  head,  short- 
sighted, eyes  half  hid  under  the  arched  brows  and  a  pecu- 
liar protuberant  upper  lip,  so  that,  as  the  phrase  goes,  his 
beauty  cannot  oppress  him.  But  even  here  the  French 
proverb  prevails  :  C'esl  sa  laideiir  qui  fait  sa  beanie  ;  for  a 
certain  spiritual  expression  lends  a  singular  charm  to  a 
physiognomy,  so  little  marked  by  beauty,  especially  when  in 
the  course  of  debate  the  apparently  composed,  but  really 
active  face  becomes  animated.  Then  the  little  brown-  eyes 
sparkle,  the  lifeless  lines  expand,  and  an  ironical  mocking 
smile  plays  along  the  overhanging  lip.  Suddenly  he  inter- 
rupts the  speaker  and  shouts  a  sarcastic  remark  into  the 
assembly,  which  commoidy  causes  merriment,  but  some- 
times angry  murmurs.  The  curious  little  man  is  no  other 
than  the  'Pearl  of  Meppen,'  the  Deputy  Windthorst,  formerly 
a  Hanoverian  minister  of  State  under  King  George,  at  pre- 
sent the  leader  and  head  of  the  '  Centre  '  party.  For  a  great 
statesman  and  orator,  which  he  would  gladly  be,  he 
wants  the  force  of  truth,  and  warmth  of  conviction,  which 
carry  hearers  irresistibly  with  them.  In  the  place  of  these 
he  possesses  a  sharp  understanding,  piercing  wit,  and  the 
coolest  ruthlessness  in  battle  with  his  opponents.  He  sug- 
gests the  manner  of  the  French  fencing-masters,  with  their 
sharp  elastic  blades.  Like  them,  he  spies  with  his  quick 
glances  every  exposed  point  of  his  foe,  and  strikes  light- 
ning-quick, sure  as  a  serpent.  Most  interesting  is  the  duel, 
when  he  is  opposed  to  his  special  foe  Prince  Bismarck. 


134  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

Then  his  keenness  and  daring  are  doubled  ;  his  little  eyes 
are  fired  with  malice,  and  his  wit  becomes  more  biting  and 
cutting.  In  spite  of  this,  however,  little  Windthorst  gen- 
erally succumbs  to  the  giant  blows  of  the  great  Bismarck, 
whom  he  cannot  reach  with  his  French  rapier.  Still  the 
'Pearl  of  Meppen,'  is  a  dangerous  antagonist ;  he  has  the 
most  extensive  connections  on  all  sides  and  in  the  highest 
circles^  and  in  the  choice  of  means  obeys  the  principles  of 
the  Jesuits.  Now  he  reaches  out  his  hand  to  the  Alsatians ; 
next  is  seen  arm  in  arm  with  the  social-aristocrat  Sonne- 
mann  ;  again  he  smiles  on  the  Conservatives  and  Particular- 
ists,  then  coquets  even  with  the  National  Liberals  and  the 
Progressivists,  whenever,  in  short,  there  is  a  chance  to  create 
embarrassments  for  the  government  and  especially  the 
hated  chancellor, — a  cunning  scout,  an  unwearied  partisan, 
extraordinary  in  small  warfare,  but  no  commander  who 
fights  historic  battles."* 

A  writer  in  the  Grenzboten  Magazine  is  less  complimen- 
tar}'.  He  says  that  what  has  fortified  Windthorst  in  the 
parliamentary  rank  that  he  has  won  "  is  the  specific  nature 
of  his  gifts  and  his  capacity.  It  is  known  that  he  prefers 
short  impromptus  to  long  speeches.  He  hits  best  thereby 
the  temper  of  a  House  which  is  almost  always  in  a  state  of 
mental  weariness,  and  which  sighs  with  a  natural  longing 
for  the  little  jokes  and  the  personal  incidents  that  entertain. 
Hence  in  a  large  measure  the  flood  of  'personal  remarks,' 
encouraged  by  the  House  itself,  after  every  sharp  debate, 
and  hence  the  eternal  'merriment,'  the  stereotyped  ap- 
pearance of  which  in  the  reports  has  given  rise  to  so  much 

♦Max  Ring  in  tlie  Gartenlaube,  1874,  page  292. 


IIERR   WINDTIIORST.  1 35 

unfavorable  comment  in  the  provinces This  chronic 

exhaustion  Windthorst  beyond  all  others  knows  how  to 
humor.  His  wit  is  in  no  wise  brilliant,  his  humor  has  a 
sour  smack,  his  shrewdness  wants  depth  of  thought  and 
study.  Since  he  only  skims  off  the  foam  of  the  day's  ex- 
citement, without  troublesome  soundings  into  its  depths, 
since  he  neglects  the  relations  of  things,  and,  with  the  taste 
of  a  cultivated  natural  talent,  pries  into  the  relations  of 
persons,  he  has  always  material  for  bad  jokes,  or  piquant 
allusions.  For  this  a  bored  audience  is  always  grateful, 
and  by  its  applause,  if  often  only  ironical,  places  him 
higher  than  he  deserves. " 

Neither  of  these  sketches  is  complete  or  accurate.  It 
the  former,  written  in  an  easier  style,  presents  only  the 
outward  characteristics  of  the  man,  the  latter  aims  at  a 
more  careful  theory  of  his  intellectual  nature,  and  neglects 
all  other  elements.  But  they  agree  in  denying  him  the 
attributes  of  a  statesman,  and  in  degrading  him  to  the  rank 
of  a  low  comedian  on  the  parliamentary  stage. 

Nothing  could  be  more  unjust  and  more  inexact.  If 
the  writers  had  questioned  the  sincerity  of  Windthorst's 
religious  fervor ;  if  they  had  described  the  recklessness 
and  unscrupulousness  of  his  political  methods  ;  if  they  had 
represented  him  as  a  powerful  critic  without  constructive  or 
organizing  talent,  they  would  not  have  violated  truth  or 
propriety.  The  Hanoverian  leader  is  not  a  man  to  whom 
nature  supplied  the  conditions  of  a  positive  faith  ;  he  is 
der  Geisi  der  stets  verneint.  He  would  be  the  most  daring 
and  consistent  of  skeptics,  if  his  interests  had  not  made 
him  the  most  faithful  of  believers.  Even  his  religious  pro- 
fessions spring  from  one  form  of  unbelief     To  be  a  free- 


136  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

thinker  requires  the  exercise  of  faith  in  human  reason  and 
in  most  of  the  results  of  human  inquiry,  while,  by  espous- 
ing the  Catholic  religion,  he  proclaimed  his  disbelief  in  all 
positive  and  uninspired  knowledge.  He  is  skeptical  on  all 
subjects  where  skepticism  requires  the  greatest  contempt 
for  his  fellow  beings,  and  is  credulous  where  he  is  sure  of 
having  the  fewest  imitators.  He  doubts  everything  that  is 
true,  and  believes  only  what  is  doubtful.  According  to  the 
philosophy  of  Hegel,  the  Ego  and  the  Non  ego  are  identi- 
cal. Windthorst  shows  by  his  own  example  the  identity  of 
absolute  skepticism  and  absolute  belief.  An  original  spirit 
of  universal  dissent  has  driven  him  into  a  Church  which 
exacts  as  a  first  condition  vows  of  unqualified  assent. 

Windthorst  is,  perhaps,  the  model  Philistine  of  German 
politics,  but  it  must  be  said  that,  while  refusing  to  concede 
to  his  rivals  the  influence  of  moral  convictions,  he  never 
claims  them  for  his  own  party.  Reichensperger  and  Schor- 
lemer  assume  the  air  of  indignant  martyrs,-but  Windthorst 
never.  He  is  too  clever  to  invite  the  ironical  laughter  of  the 
Left.  He  battles  with  the  Centre,  not  because  he  believes  in 
Ultramontanism,  but  because  he  hates  Prince  Bismarck  and 
Prussia  ;  and  this  freedom  from  the  servitude  of  a  virtuous 
consistency  is  of  vast  advantage  to  him.  He  is  not  com- 
pelled to  assume  an  attitude  of  defence  when  his  Church  is 
assailed,  and  of  silence  for  the  rest  of  the  time.  Like  a 
soldier  of  fortune,  he  roams  over  the  whole  world  of  politics, 
and  grapples  with  the  foe  wherever  and  whenever  he  meets 
him.  Less  successful  in  the  use  of  studied  irony  than 
Mallinckrodt,  and  far  below  him  in  the  breadth  and  ele- 
gance of  his  acquirements,  he  is  superior  in  running  debate, 
in  rapid  repartee,  and  as  a  parliamentary  manager.     He  car- 


IIERR   WINDTIIORST.  1 3/ 

ries  on  for  his  faction  all  the  details  of  the  battles,  argues 
the  technical  questions,  and  in  general  watches  ail  the  side 
issues  that  spring  up  along  the  way.  To  this  congenial 
work  he  brings  a  fertility  of  expedient,  a  ruthlessness  of 
purpose,  and  a  sharpness  of  wit,  which  have  no  rivals  in 
the  House.  Under  the  fire  of  the  fiercest  attack  he  lolls 
sleepily  in  his  seat,  but  with  one  eye  always  open  to  the 
chances  of  a  trenchant  interruption. 

It  would  be  incorrect,  moreover,  to  say  with  the  writers 
quoted  above,  thatWindthorst  has  none  of  the  qualities  of 
a  statesman.  One  may  be  without  moral  and  intellectual 
convictions,  and  yet  be  able  to  detect  the  fallacy  in  any 
political  theory,  or  the  weaknesses  of  any  proposed  meas- 
ures, and  to  suggest  a  better  theory  or  measure.  This  is 
the  case  with  Windthorst.  His  mind  is  acute,  but  not 
shallow  ;  his  spirit  is  cynical,  but  not  frivolous.  The  rapid- 
ity of  his  intellectual  processes  does  not  imply  that  they 
are  careles's  or  incorrect,  and  it  has  always  seemed  to  me 
that  his  understanding  was  sure  as  well  as  clear.  The 
leader  of  a  feeble  minority  has,  of  course,  very  little  chance 
of  impressing  his  views  upon  legislation,  but  Windthorst 
is  a  useful  legislator.  He  is  a  master  of  parliamentary  law 
and  strategy.  In  fact,  he  seems  to  me  to  possess  many 
qualities  of  a  statesman,  with  few  of  his  opportunities  ;  and 
not  many  of  his  colleagues,  in  any  part  of  the  Reichslag, 
are  by  nature  or  by  training  his  superior. 

They  who  know  Windthorst  well,  say  that  none  of  the 
ferocity  which  he  shows  in  parliamentary  warfare  goes  over 
with  him  into  private  life.  He  is  a  kindly,  agreeable,  old 
gentleman,  who  is  much  respected  for  the  Spartan  simpli- 
city of  his  tastes,  and  much  admired  for  the  wit  and  spright- 
8* 


138  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

liness  of  his  conversation.  The  morose  air  that  he  has  in 
public,  never,  indeed,  quite  forsakes  him,  but  it  does  not 
reveal  a  morose  temper  or  an  unfriendly  disposition.  The 
sarcasm  which  is  so  terrible,  like  that  of  Thaddeus  Stevens, 
is  part  of  his  professional  equipment.  He  will  make  a 
point  against  some  measure  by  a  crushing  personal  retort 
upon  one  of  its  defenders,  and  then  apologize  to  the  vic- 
tim that  the  force  of  circumstances  made  necessary  a  step 
which  had  no  element  of  personal  unkindness.  But  he 
has  never,  to  my  knowledge,  shown  this  sort  of  remorse 
toward  Prince  Bismarck, 

The  Chancellor  once  did  Windthorst  the  honor  publicly 
to  recognize  him  as  his  most  formidable  antagonist,  and 
since  that  time,  the  position  of  the  leader  of  the  Ultramon- 
tane faction  has  not  been  disputed.  A  few  maintain  that 
the  unintentional  kindness  of  the  prince  prejudiced  the 
chances  of  other  foes  equally  deserving.  This  charge  is 
unjust  to  him.  The  mind  of  the  prince  is  singularly  "ob- 
jective," and  in  choosing  to  single  out  Windthorst  for 
personal  attack,  he  was  only  recognizing  a  concrete  fact, 
a  parliamentary  phenomenon.  Neither  the  original  po- 
sition of  Windthorst,  nor  his  subsequent  growth  in  authority, 
owes  anything  to  the  partial  hostility  of  the  Imperial  Chan- 
cellor. 


XI. 

Dr.  Loewe. 


N  a  sense  which  is  much  more  literal  than  the 
metaphor  would  suggest,  Dr.  Loewe  may  be  called 
a  landmark  in  German  politics.  The  distance  be- 
tween him  and  the  government  to-day  is,  in  a  general  way, 
a  key  to  the  progress  made  by  the  latter  during  the  past 
thirty  years,  but  is  not  evidence  of  a  relapse  of  the  former 
from  the  principles  of  his  early  life.  Prince  Bismarck  has 
drawn  near  to  him,  but  he  is  unchanged.  Added  years 
and  calmer  times  may,  indeed,  have  modified  the  ardor  of 
youth,  and  brought  with  them  more  respect  for  the  practi- 
cal conditions  of  reform  ;  but  in  principle  he  is  the  same 
uncompromising  foe  of  prerogative,  of  Junkerism,  of 
military  pretensions  ;  and  the  same  stanch  champion  of 
popular  rights.  He  is  a  radical,  but  his  radicalism  does 
not  exclude  statesmanship.  He  is  a  radical  who  endured 
a  long  persecution  at  the  hands  of  the  government,  with  the 
same  dignity  that  he  maintains  in  the  enjoymicnt  of  its 
respect ;  who  received  his  pardon  for  the  offence  of  a  fervid 


140  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

patriotism  with  the  same  manly  independence  that  he  pre- 
serves in  the  prosperity  of  a  universal  affection. 

He  is  a  radical  in  .the  German  sense,  which  is  not  at  all 
the  American,  nor  even  the  English  sense.  His  mind  is, 
perhaps,  rather  English  than  either  German  or  American. 
He  might  be  compared  to  Mr.  Bright  in  firmness  of  con- 
viction and  purity  of  purpose,  but  he  is  a  better  scholar 
and  a  more  practical  legislator.  He  might  be  compared 
to  Mr.  Forster  in  the  solidity  of  his  understanding  and  the 
breadth  of  his  sympathies,  but  he  never  barters  with  current 
opinions.  He  showed  his  independence  by  remaining  with 
the  party  of  Progress,  when  nearly  all  of  his  friends  were 
organizing  a  governmental  National  Liberal  party.  He 
showed  it  again  two  years  since,  when,  against  his  radical 
friends,  he  voted  for  a  military  measure  that  he  deemed 
necessaiy  to  the  Empire.  Thus  he  is  no  idle  theorist, 
neglecting  practical  even  if  partial  reforms,  for  abstract  and 
useless  impossibilities. 

Dr.  William  Loewe  was  born  at  Olvenstedt,  near  Magde- 
burg, on  the  14th  of  November,  18 14.  He  studied  at  the 
Gymnasium  of  Magdeburg,  and  further  at  the  University  of 
Halle,  where  he  graduated  as  doctor  of  medicine.  His 
first  appearance  in  political  life  was  in  that  year  which 
called  out  for  the  first  time  so  much  political  talent,  the  year 
1848,  and  it  saw  him  as  delegate  to  the  Frankfort  Parlia- 
ment. He  was  President  of  the  "German  Parliament" 
after  its  secession  to  Stuttgart.  Pursued  on  account  of  this 
circumstance,  he  went  into  exile,  and  remained  abroad 
until  1861,  when  a  general  amnesty  opened  the  way  for  him 
to  return.  Since  then,  he  has  resided  at  Berlin,  and  divided 
his  time  between  the  practice  of  his  profession  and  legisla- 


DR.    LOEWE.  141 

tive  work.  He  is  a  member  both  of  the  Prussian  House 
of  Deputies  and  of  the  Reichstag,  and  was,  until  this  year, 
when  he  refused  a  re-election,  first  vice-president  of  the 
former. 

When  the  mihtary  courtiers  and  the  Conservatives  of  the 
old  reactionary  class  assert,  as  they  do,  that  Dr.  Loewe  is 
a  revolutionary  statesman,  they  have  in  their  own  minds  and 
convey  to  others  a  clear  notion  of  what  they  mean.  The 
term  "  Revolution  "  in  Germany  has  been  adopted  into  the 
jargon  of  the  schools.  Every  philosopher  who  lectures  at 
a  university  gives  at  least  one  hour  each  season  to  the  fun- 
damental difference  between  revolution  and  reformation, 
with  personal  examples  drawn,  perhaps,  from  Napoleon  and 
Luther.  The  former  revolutionized  without  reforming  ; 
the  latter  reformed  without  revolutionizing.  The  one  was 
a  pernicious  disturber  of  social  order ;  the  other  was  a 
beneficent,  corrective  force.  The  Frenchman  pursued  the 
French  method  ;  the  German,  the  German  method.  This 
is  the  accepted  formula,  but  its  application  to  the  course  of 
events  in  history  is  not  so  simple.  Of  which  of  these  two 
processes,  for  instance,  is  the  existing  parliamentary  system 
the  result .?  The  discontented  Radical,  who  chafes  under 
military  dominion  and  the  fetters  imposed  by  law  on  all 
healthy  political  agitation,  answers  that  it  is  the  result  of  a 
timid  unfinished  reform.  The  rural  Junker  growls  that  it 
is  nothing  less  than  a  revolution  in  the  original  principles 
of  Prussian  society.  Both  in  a  certain  sense  are  right. 
The  Radical  could  justly  say  the  changes  are  neither  sweep- 
ing nor  secure  enough  to  be  called  revolutionary  ;  while 
the  Conservative  could  reply  that  the  uprising  of  1848 
frightened  the  king  into  constitutionalism,   and  that  many 


142  BRIEF   BIOGRAPIIIES. 

leaders  in  that  uprising  now  enjoy  the  honors  and  the  rights 
of  deputies.  This  last  fact  is  certainly  one  of  the  most 
striking  triumphs  of  an  irresistible  progress.  That  the  in- 
surrection of  1848  was  a  failure,  in  a  practical  sense,  is  le- 
yond  dispute  ;  that  it  was  not  even  politically  justifiable 
may  be  pretended  ;  but  that  the  leaders,  who  afterwards 
became  exiles,  were  conspirators  or  dangerous  citizens,  or 
anything  but  spirited  and  generous  patriots,  the  most  ser- 
vile courtier  will  no  longer  assert.  The  vengeance  of 
frightened  princes  drove  them  into  banishment,  but  could 
not  break  the  ties  of  their  patriotism.  When  the  amnesty 
was  proclaimed  after  the  establishment  of  the  North  Ger- 
man Confederation,  many  of  the  exiles  returned,  and,  in 
1870,  still  more  came  and  re-entered,  at  once,  into  the 
political  life  of  the  fatherland.  They  are  mostly  men  of 
education  and  talent ;  and  their  experience  in  England 
and  America,  under  the  operation  of  free  institutions,  does 
not  impair  their  value  as  citizens  at  this  stage  in  German 
history. 

Dr.  Loewe  is  a  typical  man  of  this  class.  The  record 
of  his  life  reads  like  a  chapter  out  of  the  revolutionary 
history  of  Germany,  or  rather  like  that  history  itself  He 
was  a  revolutionist,  but  of  the  tribune,  not  of  the  barri- 
cades. He  struggled  for  constitutional  government  in 
Prussia,  but  he  preferred  a  peaceful,  orderly  struggle  to 
foolish  street  conflicts  which  were  sure  to  fail,  and  strength- 
ened the  logic  as  much  as  they  hardened  the  heart  of  reac- 
tion ;  he  was  an  ardent  worker  for  German  unity,  and  he 
thought  it  might  be  conquered  without  the  aid  of  the  can- 
non and  the  musket.  But  the  practical  moderation,  the  or- 
derly and  peaceful  character  of  his  method  gave  no  security 


DR.    LOEWE.  143 

against  the  vengeance  of  governments  that  were  resolved 
to  repress  every  manifestation  of  liberalism.  His  offense 
was  only  this  :  after  the  several  German  governments  had 
dissolved  the  Frankfort  Parliament  and  called  home  the 
representatives,  a  large  portion  of  that  assembly — the  Radi- 
cal and  advanced  Liberals — adjourned  in  a  body  to  Stutt- 
gart, in  Wiirtemberg,  and  organized  as  the  "  German 
Parliament. "  But  here  again  the  patriots  were  interrupted. 
The  militar}^  entered  the  hall,  and  turned  them  out.  Re- 
taining their  unity  of  action  even  in  this  extremity,  and  as 
if  to  protest  by  their  order  and  moderation  against  the  per- 
secution of  which  they  were  the  object,  the  little  band 
formed  upon  the  street,  and  led  by  Dr.  Loewe,  the  presi- 
dent, and  the  poet  Uhland,  bareheaded,  marched  solemnly 
through  the  old  Schwabian  city. 

For  his  share  in  this  drama,  Dr.  Loewe  was  prosecuted 
by  the  Prussian  government.  There  was  some  difficulty 
in  finding  a  cou;t  that  would  make  out  a  case.  After  the 
local  court  at  Kalbe,  the  town  that  he  represented  and 
after  which  he  is  still  called  Loewe-Kalbe,  had  refused  to 
entertain  the  case,  and  the  criminal  court  at  Magdeburg, 
entertaining  it,  had  acquitted  him,  the  superior  court  came 
to  the  rescue  of  reaction  and  found  him  guilty.  He  was 
sentenced  to  imprisonment  for  life,  but  as  he  had  already 
escaped  to  Switzerland,  the  sentence  amounted  only  to  a 
degree  of  exile. 

Dr.  Loewe  lived  two  years  in  Switzerland,  two  in  Lon- 
don, and  eight  in  New  York,  The  latter  became  his  second 
home,  and,  if  wiser  counsels  had  not  prevailed  in  Germany 
he  would  doubtless  have  ended  his  days  in  America,  in 
the  quiet  practice  of  his  profession.    Although  he  enjoyed 


144  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

high  respect  among  his  fellow  exiles  and  emigrants  in 
America,  I  believe  that  he  never  figured  there  in  political 
life.  This  was  doubtless  his  preference  ;  for  no  one  who 
knows  the  man  can  doubt  that  his  talents,  if  displayed, 
would  have  won  as  prompt  and  hearty  recognition  in  the 
land  of  his  adoption,  as  in  the  land  of  his  birth. 

As  It  is,  he  brought  back  with  him,  unlike  some  of  his 
comrades,  a  just  and  generous  affection  for  the  country 
and  the  people  that  gave  him  an  asylum.  His  sympathy 
with  America,  too,  is  not  of  that  sentimental  and  fanciful 
sort  so  common  in  young  radicals.  It  is  the  appreciation 
of  an  observer  who  has  studied  all  sides  of  American  life, 
and  has  reached  a  temperate,  intelligent,  and  reasonable 
view.  On  every  public  and  private  occasion  he  has  warm- 
ly defended  the  transatlantic  republic.  I  remember  one 
case  in  particular — the  assassination  of  Lincoln.  When 
the  news  of  that  terrible  crime  reached  Germany,  Dr. 
Loewe,  who  had  known  the  martyr  President,  was  the  first 
to  call  the  attention  of  the  Prussian  Parliament  to  the 
affair.  His  speech,  on  that  occasion,  was  such  a  feeling 
and  graceful  effort,  that  I  reproduce  it  in  full  from  the 
translation  of  the  American  Legation.      Dr.  Loewe  said  : — 


"  Gentlemen  :  I  have  ventured  to  request  the  President  to  permit 
me  to  make  a  communication  for  which  I  claim  your  sympathy. 
That  which  I  wish  to  request  of  you  does  not,  indeed,  belong  to  the 
immediate  field  of  our  labors,  but  it  goes  so  far  beyond  the  narrow 
circle  of  private  life  that,  in  union  with  a  number  of  our  colleagues, 
I  have  ventured  to  call  your  attention  to  it.  A  considerable  number 
of  our  colleagues  feel  the  need,  under  the  dismay  produced  by  the 
news  of  the  unhappy  death  of  President  Lincoln,  to  give  expression 
to  their  views  in  rcjjard  'o  his  fate,  and  their  sympathy  with  the  nation 


DR.    LOEWE.  145 

from  which  he  has  been  snatched  away.  Abraham  Lincoln  has 
fallen  by  the  hand  of  an  assassin,  in  the  moment  of  triumpli  of  the 
cause  which  he  had  conducted,  and  while  he  was  in  hopes  of  giving 
to  his  people  the  peace  so  long  desired. 

"  Our  colleagues  wish,  in  an  address,  to  express  the  sympathy  not 
of  this  House, — that  I  say  in  order  to  remove  all  apprehension  of  a 
violation  of  the  rules, — but  the  sympathy  of  the  individual  members 
of  the  House,  in  this  great  and  unhappy  event.  This  address  we 
desire  to  present  to  the  Minister  of  the  United  States. 

"  Gentlemen,  I  will  lay  the  paper  on  the  table,  and  I  beg  those 
of  my  colleagues,  who  share  with  me  the  feeling  of  warm  and  heart- 
felt sympathy  in  the  lot  of  a  nation  which  is  united  by  so  many  bonds 
with  our  own  people,  to  give  expression  to  those  feelings  by  append 
ing  their  signatures  to  the  address.  These  sympathies  I  regard  as 
all  the  more  justified,  since  the  United  States  have  won  a  new  and 
splendid  triumph  for  mankind,  through  the  great  struggle  which 
they  have  been  carrying  on  for  the  cause  of  true  humanity,  and  which, 
as  I  confidently  hope,  in  spite  of  this  murder  of  their  chief,  they  will 
conduct  to  a  successful  termination.  In  expressing  our  feelings  of 
pain,  we  desire,  at  the  same  time,  to  prove  our  hearty  sympathy  with 
the  American  Nation,  and  those  of  our  brothers  who  have  taken  part 
in  the  struggle  for  their  cause.  The  man,  gentlemen,  who  has  fallen 
by  the  murderer's  hand,  and  whom  I  seem  to  see  with  his  simple, 
honest  countenance  ;  the  man  who  accomplished  such  great  deeds 
from  the  simple  desire  conscientiously  to  perform  his  duty;  the  man 
who  never  wished  to  be  more  or  less  than  the  sincere  and  faithful  serv- 
ant of  his  people  ;  this  man  will  find  his  own  glorious  place  in  the 
pages  of  history.  .  In  the  deepest  reverence,  I  bow  my*head  before 
this  modest  greatness,  and  I  think  it  is  especially  agreeable  to  the 
spirit  of  my  own  nation,  with  its  deep  inner  life  and  admiration  of 
self-sacrificing  devotion  and  effort  after  the  ideal,  to  pay  the  tribute 
of  veneration  to  such  greatness,  exalted  as  it  is  by  its  simplicity  and 
modesty.  I  beg  of  you,  gentlemen,  accordingly,  to  join  in  this  ex- 
pression of  veneration  for  the  great  dead,  which,  without  distinction 
of  party,  we  offer  to  him  as  a  true  servant  of  his  State,  and  of  the 
cause  of  humanity." 

9 


146  BRIEF   BIOGRArHIES. 

The  American  Minister,  Mr.  Judd,  reporting  these  pro- 
ceedings to  the  State  Department,  adds  that  "nearly  the 
whole  House  rose  in  token  of  concurrence  ;  and  the  ad- 
dress, as  drawn  up  by  the  speaker,  is  receiving  numerous 
signatures."  It  was  presented  on  the  first  day  of  May  by 
a  committee,  which  was  headed  by  Dr.  Loewe,  and  con- 
tained furthermore  Professor  Virchow  and  Dr.  Johann 
Jacoby,  of  whom  the  political  careers  are  sketched  in  this 
volume,  as  well  as  Waldeck,  Duncker,  and  some  twenty 
others.  After  the  proceedings,  some  time  was  spent  in 
conversation,  and  Mr.  Judd  adds  that  he  "parted  with 
them  (the  committee)  deeply  gratified  and  consoled  by 
this  mark  of  generous  and  noble  sympathy  with  our  people 
and  our  cause."  This  touching  demonstration,  which  was 
suggested  and  directed  by  Dr.  Loewe,  is  only  one  of  the 
many  ways  in  which  he  has  shown  his  affection  for  the 
American  people. 

As  a  speaker.  Dr.  Loewe  is  clear,  positive,  and  forcible.  A 
man  universally  respected  himself,  he  always  shows  respect 
for  his  opponents  ;  he  avoids  personal  attacks  upon  others 
and  escapes  them  for  himself  He  does  not  speak  often 
now,  but,  perhaps,  exercises  the  more  influence. 

As  has  Jpeen  explained,  he  is,  or  long  was,  leader  of 
the  so-called  " Fortschri/ls"  party,  or  "Progressists," 
and  he  still  holds  firmly  to  abstract  principles  of  advanced 
Liberalism.  But  he  is  a  statesman  and  a  patriot,  as 
well  as  a  Radical,  and  revolts  as  often  from  the  tyranny 
of  impracticable  theories,  as  from  that  of  reaction.  Thus, 
when  the  late  bill  on  military  reorganization  was  be- 
fore the  Reichstag,  he  cut  loose  from  his  political  friends 


DR.    LOEWE.  147 

and  voted  with  the  government.  Since  then,  he  has  not 
formally  belonged  to  the  "Progressive"  group  above 
narried,  but  has  held  an  independent  and  somewhat  isolat- 
ed position. 


XII. 


Herr  Schulze-Delitzsch. 


jHIS  gentleman  is  a  radical  reformer  who  looks 
like  a  dull  rural  Conservative,  a  fearless  and 
original  writer,  who,  on  the  street  or  in  his  seat 
in  Parliament,  would  be  taken  for  a  German  Monsieur 
Prudhomme,  the  genius  of  sublime  platitudes.  Only  one 
leading  feature  in  his  character  is  suggested  in  his  face — his 
benevolence.  His  large,  luminous  eyes,  his  full,  gray 
beard,  and  the  slight  smile  about  his  lips  seem,  indeed,  to 
exclude  the  restless  agitator,  but  they  reveal  the  generous 
philanthropist,  the  lover  of  the  poor  and  the  weak,  the 
man  whose  heart,  at  least,  is  in  the  right  place. 

In  a  more  rigid  classification  of  German  characters, 
Schulze-Delitzsch  would  not  be  ranked  among  the  purely 
political  leaders.  He  is,  indeed,  a  politician  of  eminence 
and  ability.  His  practical  legislative  triumphs  outnumber, 
perhaps,  those  of  some  other  men  whose  right  to  a  place 
in  this  volume  is  beyond  question.  But  Schulze's  achieve- 
ments as  an  extra-political  agitator  and  reformer  are  so 


IIERR   SCIIULZE-DELITSZCII.  I49 

much  more  widely  known,  are  so  much  more  characteristic 
of  the  man,  and,  in  fact,  are  the  source  of  so  much  greater 
social  benefits,  that  at  first  his  introduction  as  a  political 
leader  seems  like  a  displacement.  This  fact  makes  it  neces- 
sary, at  least,  to  combine  with  the  description  of  the  dep- 
uty some  account  of  the  social  reformer.  The  one  char- 
acter almost  presupposes  or  conditions  the  other ;  and  no 
violence  will  be  done  to  the  plan  of  this  volume,  if  this 
relation  be  briefly  explained. 

First,  in  a  few  words,  the  general  outline  of  his  public 
career;  He  was  born  on  the  29th  of  August,  1808,  in 
Delitzsch,  in  the  Prussian  province  of  Saxony,  and  pursued 
his  academic  and  legal  studies  at  Leipsic  and  Halle.  On 
quitting  the  university  he  entered  the  judicial  service,  like 
so  many  of  his  colleagues,  and  began  the  ascent  of  the 
weary  ladder  of  promotion.  He  was  first  Referenda)-,  and 
then  Oberlandgerichts- Assessor,  in  Naumburg,  and  finally 
Kammcrgerichts-Assessor  in  Berlin.  This  position  he  re- 
linquished in  1 84 1,  to  accept  in  his  native  city,  Delitzsch, 
a  patrimonial  judgeship  or  judicial  "living,"  conferred 
upon  him  by  the  lord  of  the  province.  This  city  elected 
him,  in  1848,  to  the  National  Assembly  at  Berlin.  In 
1849,  he  was  a  member  of  the  second  Chamber,  and  was 
one  of  the  forty-two  members  who,  having  refused,  on 
constitutional  grounds,  the  payment  of  taxes,  were  arraigned 
before  the  criminal  court  and  acquitted  by  the  jury.  The 
speech  made  in  self-defense  by  Schulze  was  published 
throughout  the  whole  country,  and  made  a  great  sensa- 
tion. 

On  the  abolition  of  the  patrimonial  courts  he  re-entered 
the  service  of  the   State,    and    became   county  judge   in 


150  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

Wreschen,  a  province  of  Posen  ;  but,  after  a  short  term  of 
service,  retired  definitively  from  the  judiciary  and  resumed 
his  residence  at  Dehtzsch.  From  this  time  he  devoted 
himself  almost  exclusively  to  the  cause  of  the  working 
class,  for  the  elevation  of  which  he  had  already  done  so 
much.  The  success  which  he  had  in  organizing  working- 
men's  associations,  as  well  as  union  stores,  banks,  etc.,  is 
known ;  it  provoked  attention  abroad,  in  France,  Italy, 
Belgium,  and  especially  England,  where,  by  authority  of 
the  government,  a  series  of  researches  into  the  condition  of 
workingmen  and  trades-unions  in  Germany  was  made,  by 
the  well-known  diplomat  Monier,  and  his  reports  were 
published  in  the  Blue  Book.  In  1859,  at  Weimar,  was 
organized,  under  Schulze's  lead,  the  League  of  German 
Associations,  of  which  he  was  elected  solicitor,  and  the 
organ  of  which,  Die  Innung  der  Zukunft,  he  still  publishes. 
His  ideas  were  further  elucidated  chiefly  in  three  works, — • 
"  The  Association  Book,"  "The  Loan  of  Credit  Unions 
as  People's  Banks,"  and  "The  Laboring  Classes  and  the 
Question  of  Association."  Besides  these,  there  appeared 
from  his  pen  "Basis  of  a  Catechism  for  German  Working- 
men,"  a  collection  of  lectures  that  he  delivered  in  the 
winter  of  1862-63,  before  the  Berlin  Workingmen's  Union. 
A  little  later  he  published  a  history  and  review  of  German 
legislation  upon  "  Trade  Unionisms."  In  February,  1859, 
under  his  lead,  was  founded,  at  Frankfort  on  the  Main, 
the  National  Union,  and  since  that  time,  he  has  devoted 
himself,  as  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  party  of  Progress, 
more  to  the  political  side  of  public  life.  In  1861,  he  was 
re-elected  deputy,  and  regularly  thereafter  till  1873.  In 
the  Reichstag,  from  1867  to  1874,  Schulze  represented  the 


HERR   SCHULZE-DELITZSCH.  151 

6th  district  of  Berlin,  and  now  sits  for  the  2d  district  of 
Wiesbaden. 

The  above  is  the  outline  of  Schulze's  career,  as  given  in 
the  copious  and  discursive  style  of  the  parliamentary 
almanac.  It  wants,  obviously,  many  details,  for  which  the 
student  will  inquire.  For  instance,  the  explanation  of 
Schulze's  retirement  from  his  petty  judgeship  in  Posen  is 
ludicrously  inadequate.  The  almanac  says  he  resigned 
because  the  government  refused  him  leave  of  absence  to 
visit  his  old  home,  Delitzsch,  There  is  no  hint  of  political 
difiiculties.  On  the  contrary,  the  offended  judge  is  treated 
like  an  angry  school-boy  who  leaves  school,  because  the 
master  will  not  give  him  a  holiday.  The  fact  is,  however, 
that  Schulze  retired,  like  so  many  other  liberal  officials 
at  that  epoch,  because  his  politics  were  offensive  to  the 
powers  above  him.  These  could  not  indeed  openly 
dismiss  him.  Having  in  an  unwary  moment  admitted 
him  to  the  service  because  he  was  a  promising  jurist  and 
without  asking  about  his  politics,  they  found  him  pro- 
tected in  his  position  by  certain  rules  of  the  service  which  even 
they  did  not  dare  openly  to  violate.  He  could  not  in- 
deed be  dismissed,  but  he  could  be  harassed  by  a  petty 
persecution,  and  thus  made  to  surrender  an  intolerable 
office.  And  this  is  what  actually  occurred.  In  the  first 
place  he  early  learned  that  promotion  was  not  to  be  ex- 
pected. And  then  such  obstacles  were  thrown  in  the  path 
of  his  political  career,  though  the  constitution  did  not  ex- 
clude a  judge  from  elective  honors,  that  the  abandonment 
of  his  judgeship  became  a  practical  condition  of  his  success 
in  parliamentary  life.  Accordingly  he  resigned.  He  re- 
turned to  Delitzsch  ;  and  since  that  time,  he  has  pursued 


152  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

without  interruption  the  labors  of  a  legislator,  a  reformer, 
and  a  philanthropist. 

In  the  early  period  of  his  reform  labors,  Schulze  was 
greatly  embarrassed  for  means.  He  himself  was  without 
fortune,  and  though  his  mother  supplied  from  her  purse 
the  cost  of  lecturing  tours  which  he  undertook,  she  was 
not  able  to  give  him  permanent  assistance.  Still  he  perse- 
vered nobly  till  1863,  when  he  saw  the  necessity  of  sus- 
pending his  beneficent  work.  The  Burgomastership  of 
Delitzsch  had  been  offered  to  him  by  the  citizens,  and  as 
it  assured  him  a  fair  annuity  he  was  prepared  to  accept  it. 
Then  the  working  men  came  to  the  relief  of  their  benefac- 
tor. A  subscription  for  his  benefit  was  started  throughout 
the  country.  Some  few  men  of  means  contributed  to  it, 
but  the  greatest  part  came  from  the  small  but  numerous 
offerings  of  the  poorest  laboring  classes.  At  length,  the 
purse  reached  the  sum  of  fifty  thousand  thalers,  and  it  was 
placed  at  Schulze's  disposition.  Of  course  the  burgomas- 
tership of  Delitzsch  passed  into  other  hands.  Schulze 
was  saved  for  higher  work.  He  refused  to  accept  the  fifty 
thousand  thalers  as  a  final  gift  to  him.  He  simply  accept- 
ed it  in  trust,  bought  a  house  at  Potsdam  with  a  portion, 
and  invested  the  rest,  so  that  only  the  interest  accrues  to 
his  benefit.  The  principal  belongs  to  the  generous 
subscribers.  The  leisure  and  the  means  there  acquir- 
ed he  devoted  to  his  chosen  mission,  which  he  was 
thereby  enabled  to  pursue  on  a  larger  scale  and  with 
greater  success. 

Schulze  is  a  liberal,  even  a  radical,  and  he  is  a  reformer, 
but  he  is  no  revolutionist.  The  practical  character  of  his 
method,  and  his  qbjects,  distinguishes  Ijim  frpm  La§alle. 


HERR   SCHULZE-DELITZSCH.  I  53 

The  latter  was  a  fiery  volcanic  nature,  and  his  nature  gave 
tone  to  his  schemes.  His  schemes  required  the  aid  of  the 
state  ;  Schulze's,  only  that  of  the  working  classes  them- 
selves. His  method  was  political  and  revolutionary  ; 
Schulze's  was  economical  and  reformatory.  Lassalle  tried 
to  array  the  proletariat  as  a  fourth  estate  against  society, 
against  the  right  of  property,  and  the  obligations  of  religion. 
Schulze  only  organized  the  poor  for  resistance  to  their  own 
worst  faults.  Lassalle  was  a  brilliant  orator,  and  a  fearless 
agitator,  and  it  was  quite  in  the  fitness  of  things  that  his 
restless  life  should  end  in  a  quarrel  and  a  duel.  Schulze 
lives  to  witness  the  success  of  his  intelligent  labors,  and  to 
enjoy  the  respect  of  all  his  countrymen. 

The  first  practical  realization  of  Schulze's  plans  was  in 
the  so-called  Credit  imd  Vorschtiss  J^ereme,  which  were  at 
once  a  species  of  savings  bank,  and  institutions  for  mutual 
aid.  The  members  contributed  of  their  savings  to  this 
fund,  and  in  their  turn  were  aided  in  case  of  old  age,  sick- 
ness, or  any  misfortune  which  interrupted  their  daily  work. 
The  "  Unions  "  were  entirely  under  the  management  of  the 
members.  They  undertook  the  investment  of  the  capital, 
the  surplus  being  divided  annually,  and  they  conducted 
the  so-called  "sick  funds,"  and  "funeral  funds."  The  first 
one  of  these  institutions  was  founded  in  1850  ;  in  1S69, 
the  number  reached  1,750,  of  which  1,735  were  in  com- 
plete working  order  and  furnished  reports.  These  consisted 
of  304,000  members,  and  counted  in  their  total  contribu- 
tions at  181,000,000  thalers.  The  permanent  capital  was 
12,000,000.  These  concerns  enjoy  an  admirable  credit, 
and  bankers  were  always  ready  for  negotiations  with  them. 
In  1874,  however,  under  Schulze's  inspiration,  a  bank  was 


154  BRIEF  BIOGRAPHIES. 

founded  at  Berlin,  like  the  Unions,  under  the  control  of  the 
workingmen,  and  was  authorized  to  conduct  their  financial 
transactions. 

But  this  is  not  all.  The  indefatigable  philanthropist  not 
only  organized  these  admirable  relief  societies,  where  the 
working  people  could  have  the  benefit  of  a  common  fund, 
in  case  of  disaster,  but  he  also  instituted  co-operative  or 
union  stores,  where  they  could  purchase  their  household 
goods,  and  in  many  cases  the  raw  material  of  their  trades, 
at  cost  prices.  These,  too,  were  thoroughly  successful,  and 
multiplied  at  an  unexpected  rate.  Whereas,  in  1869,  there 
were  but  6,728  of  them,  to-day  hardly  a  town  or  village 
exists  without  one.  Their  transactions  per  annum  are 
reckoned  by  hundreds  of  millions,  and  their  profits  are 
v^ery  large.  Finally,  in  some  of  the  larger  towns,  he  organ- 
ized markets,  where  the  members  of  the  associations  meet 
and  publicly  sell  their  wares. 

Thus  Schulze's  efforts  for  the  working  people  were  of  the 
most  practical  nature.  He  had  indeed  an  ideal,  but  it  was 
a  general  one  ;  and  he  tried  to  realize  it,  not  by  making 
war  on  all  the  institutions,  traditions  and  prejudices  of 
society,  but  by  a  patient  course  of  education  and  dis- 
cipline. The  way  to  emancipate  the  fourth  estate,  in  his 
view,  was  to  put  into  its  hands  the  elements  of  social 
strength — means,  organization,  unity  of  plan,  and  method. 
He  did  not  ignore  politics,  but  he  reversed  the  method  of 
Lassalle.  The  latter  taught  the  workingmen  to  employ 
politics  as  a  means  to  social  position  and  influence.  The 
former  taught  them,  first,  the  elements  of  social,  as  the 
condition  of  political  strength.  Without  pronouncing 
upon  the  abstract  justice  of  their  two  theories,   one  must 


IIERR   SCIIULZE-DELITZSCH.  I  55 

see  and  admit  that  the  latter  alone,  in  a  military,  aristocratic 
state,  like  Prussia,  was  likely  to  succeed. 

Schulze  is  personally,  however,  a  man  of  very  pronounc- 
ed  political  views.  He  is  a  member  of  the  "Progressive" 
party  and  sits  near  Dr.  Loewe  ;  and  represents,  perhaps,  the 
most  advanced  form  of  Liberalism  recognized  and  tolerated 
by  law.  The  next  faction  to  the  Left,  the  Social-democrats, 
are  condemned  by  the  spirit,  and  often  by  the  letter,  of  Ger- 
man penal  codes.  He  is  not  very  prominent  in  debate. 
A  new  generation  of  men  who  were  in  their  cradles  when 
he  was  teaching  millions  of  workingmen  the  secret  of  suc- 
cess in  life,  have  grasped  the  reins  of  legislative  power  and 
changed  the  aspect  of  current  politics. 

On  certain  questions,  however,  Schulze  speaks  with 
authority  and  is  heard  with  respect.  One  of  these  is  the 
so-called  "  Diet  question,"  or,  paid  against  unpaid  legis- 
lators. The  delegates  to  the  Prussian  Landtag  are  regu- 
larly paid  ;  those,  to  the  Imperial  Parliament  are  not.  This 
latter  provision  was  made  at  the  express  suggestion  of 
Prince  Bismarck,  and  against  the  judgment  of  the  great 
body  of  the  Liberals.  The  Prince  argues  that  the  remu- 
neration of  members  would  fill  the  chamber  with  penniless 
adventurers  ;  the  Liberals  claim  that  the  opposite  system 
gives  too  great  advantage  to  rich  country  Conservatives. 
Schulze  is  the  leading  champion  of  this  latter  view.  Ac- 
cording to  him  the  laborer  is  worthy  of  his  hire.  As  he 
taught  the  duty  of  the  workingman  to  save  that  which  he 
receives,  so  he  teaches  the  right  of  the  legislator  to  receive 
that  which  he  earns.  Schulze's  demonstration  on  this  sub- 
ject is  one  of  the  annual  parliamentary  events.  Each  ses- 
sion he  brings  in  his  familiar  resolution  instructing  the 


156  BRIEF   BIOGRAnilES. 

government  to  submit  a  bill  for  paying  the  members  of  the 
Reichstag;  it  is  regularly  passed  by  a  large  majority  ;  and 
it  is  regularly  laid  aside  without  action  by  the  government. 
It  is,  of  course,  hardly  necessary  lo  mention  that  Schulze 
is  watchful  of  legislation  affecting  the  interest  of  his  chosen 
clients  ;  and  as  much  by  the  respect  felt  for  his  unselfish 
advocacy,  as  by  the  soundness  and  moderation  of  his  views, 
he  carries  great  weight  with  his  colleagues. 

In  the  early  part  of  this  sketch  it  is  said  that  the  appear- 
ance of  Schulze,  as  he  sits  quietly  in  his  place  in  Parlia- 
ment, suggests  the  worthy  Jacques  Prudhomme,  the  genius 
of  common-place.  But  appearances  deceive.  Instead  of 
being  a  mere  empiric,  a  shoemaker  or  a  blacksmith  out  of 
place,  he  is  really  a  scholar  and  a  thinker.  Because  he 
does  not  give  the  workingmen  incendiary  ideas,  it  would  be 
false  to  conclude  that  he  gives  them  no  ideas.  On  the 
contrary,  Schulze  tries  to  improve  not  only  the  bodies,  but 
also  the  minds  of  his  clients  ;  not  only  their  actual  posi- 
tion in  society,  but  also  the  reasoning  which  they  apply 
to  the  solution  of  social  problems.  The  pamphlets  that 
he  has  published,  the  lectures  that  he  gives  to  the  working- 
men,  the  speeches  that  he  makes  in  Parliament,  are  the 
work  of  a  philosopher  rather  than  of  a  demagogue. 

I  have  included  Schulze-Delitzsch  among  the  political 
leaders  of  Germany,  not  so  much  because  of  any  great 
prominence  that  he  has,  as  a  parliamentarian,  as  because 
of  the  influence  that  he  exerts  among  the  working  classes. 
Having  called  them  into  being  as  a  political  force,  he  has 
a  right  to  direct  them.  Having  this  force  at  his  disposal,  he 
has  won  the  respect  of  society  by  the  moderate  and  just  use 
that  he  has  made  of  it. 


IIERR   SCIIULZE-DELITZSCH.  I  57 

Since  the  above  was  written,  the  annual  reports,  of  the 
various  Associations  for  the  fiscal  year,  1874,  have  been 
published.  They  make  a  substantial  volume,  which  con- 
tains not  only  the  reports  and  statistics  of  the  separate 
societies,  of  course  in  a  condensed  form,  but  also  a  general 
report  from  the  solicitor  himself.  As  it  may  be  of  interest 
to  compare  the  figures  above  given  with  those  for  the  year 
1874,  I  transcribe,  from  an  analysis  in  the  Deutsche  Rund- 
schau, the  leading  points  in  the  last  report.  From  this  the 
reader  will  gain  a  renewed  appreciation  of  Schulze's  benefi- 
cent labors.  These  reports  certainly  do  not  appear  so 
promptly  as  most  of  the  commercial  reports,  but  for  a  suffi- 
cient reason,  because  the  editor  must  collate  the  annual 
balances  of  many  hundred  associations.  If  one  only  con- 
siders this,  one  will  be  astonished  at  the  rapidity  of  this 
important  mathematical  work.  It  requires  the  entire  at- 
tention of  a  man  like  Schulze-Delitzsch,  and  the  strong 
support  which  he  finds  in  his  first  secretary.  Dr.  F.  Schneider. 
The  generally  encouraging  growth  of  the  Association  has 
been  uninterruptedly  maintained  in  1874.  In  what  con- 
cerns the  most  important  matter,  that  of  the  Relief  Unions 
and  People's  Banks,  it  appears  that  2409  have  grown  to 
2639.  The  815  which  sent  reports  for  1874  to  the  General 
Agency  at  Potsdam,  counted  on  an  average  504  members, 
an  increase  of  25  since  1873  >'  ^"^d  they  have  1335  3-4  mil- 
lions of  marks  on  deposit.  Since,  however,  the  loans  on 
valuables  and  the  current  credits  show  a  decrease  as  com- 
pared with  1873,  while  only  the  credits  on  exchange  and 
mortgages  have  increased,  it  would  seem  that  the  injurious 
eff"ects  of  the  financial  crisis  made  themselves  felt  less  keen- 
ly among  the  poorer  artisans,  than  among  the  rich.     There 


158  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

is,  in  the  judgment  of  the  solicitor,  renewed  cause  for  warn- 
ing the  Association  against  the  misuse  of  the  funds  by 
regular  patrons  ;  against  the  investment  of  funds  in  mort- 
gages, and  against  imprudent  meddling  with  securities. 
In  membership,  the  mechanics,  as  before,  outnumber  any 
other  class,  but  they  have  fallen  to  something  more  than  a 
third  of  the  whole.  The  farmers  make  something  more  than 
a  fifth,  the  tradesmen  a  tenth,  the  hired  laborers  a  little  less 
than  a  tenth  ;  these  latter  are  on  the  increase.  If  we  ex- 
amine the  Associations  according  to  the  separate  occupa- 
tions, they  seem  to  grow,  above  all,  among  farmers.  Instead 
of  150,  there  are  this  time  189  among  this  class.  Their  aim 
is  in  part,  the  procuring  in  common,  seed,  implements,  etc., 
in  part,  the  sale  in  common,  of  milk,  butter,  cheese,  hops, 
wine,  and  other  products.  The  increase  of  the  specially 
interesting  "  Productive  Associations  " — shops  and  manu- 
factories in  possession  of  the  laborers,  i.  e.  where  the 
laborer  is  also  partner — was  not  affected  by  the  disorders 
in  trade  in  1874.  From  162  in  the  year  1873,  the  number 
has  increased  to  202,  which  is  20  per  cent.  As  to  the 
affairs  of  these  enterprises,  it  must  be  admitted,  as  was 
foreseen  in  1874,  that  they  have  not  been  altogether  favor- 
able. Instead  of  30,  only  20  have  sent  their  yearly  state- 
ments. That  the  number  is  relatively  small,  is  explained 
by  the  nature  of  the  Association.  The  "Consumption 
Unions,"  in  number  42  more  than  in  1873,  still  sell  too 
much  on  credit.  With  the  "  Building  Unions,"  the  efforts 
of  the  leading  members  ought  to  be  toward  the  choice  of 
houses  for  single  families,  since  the  tendency  in  great  cities 
is  toward  an  excess  of  vast  barracks,  that  are  so  bad  for  the 
moral  and  physical  conditions  of  the  occupants.     In  view 


HERR   SCHULZE-DELITZSCH.  159 

of  the  general  derangement  and  partial  prostration  of  bus- 
iness in  the  year  1874,  the  progress  and  condition  of 
these  excellent  institutions  must  be  regarded  as  favorable 
and  satisfactory. 


XIII. 


JOHANN  JaCOBY. 


R.  JACOBY  is  no  longer,  strictly,  a  representative 
leader  of  the  present  race  of  politicians.  With  the 
war  of  1870,  his  public  life  practically  closed,  and 
his  seat,  which  he  still  retains  in  the  Lowe*  Prussian 
House,  is  rather  a  tribute  to  his  past  achievements  than  to 
his  actual  influence.  But  he  is  an  indispensable  link  be- 
tween the  new  era  and  the  old.  He  is  a  representative  of 
that  grave  and  stormy  period  militant,  without  a  knowledge 
of  which  the  present  era  cannot  be  understood  and  ought 
not  to  be  studied.  He  has  endured  persecution  and  has 
suffered  injustice  ;  he  has  held  his  head  erect  in  the  pres- 
ence of  kings  ;  and  he  has  never  failed  to  be  the  fearless 
and  eloquent  champion  of  popular  rights.  A  practical 
physician,  like  Dr.  Loewe,  he  is  also  an  example  of  what 
may  be  called  the  purely  political,  in  distinction  from  the 
semi-social  or  semi-judicial  reformer.  I  have  already 
described  Lasker  as  a  politician  who  never  quite  forgets 
the  lawyer,  and  Schulze  as  one  who  uses  political  means 
chiefly  to  further  extra-political  reforms.     Dr.   Loewe,  on 


JOIIANN    JACOBY.  l6l 

the  contrary,  is  a   politician  onlj'  for  the  sake  of  politics, 
and  the  same  is  true  of  Jacoby. 

Johann  Jacoby  was  born  in  the  city  of  Konigsberg,  on 
the  ist  of  May,  1805,  of  Jewish  parents.  He  studied  from 
1823  to  1827,  at  the  University  of  Konigsberg  ;  took  his 
diploma  as  doctor  of  medicine  at  Berlin,  and,  in  1830, 
after  extensive  travel,  settled  in  his  native  city  and  began 
the  practice  of  his  profession.  About  the  same  time,  he 
began  the  practice  of  politics. 

Up  to  the  year  1840,  he  was  active  in  local  affairs,  wrote 
frequently  for  Radical  papers,  and  often  came  into  conflict 
with  the  censorship.  The  people  had  abandoned  all  hope 
of  a  constitution  from  Frederic  William  III.  The  memory 
of  his  broken  pledges,  of  course,  remained,  and  it  was 
known  that  he  had  never  failed  to  impress  upon  his  son 
and  heir  apparent,  the  folly  of  believing  in  "abstract 
theories  ;  "  but  his  old  age  and  his  personal  amiability  sof- 
tened the  opposition  to  the  later  years  of  his  reign.  In 
Konigsberg,  which,  as  the  king's  residence  while  an  exile 
during  the  French  occupation,  was  associated  with  some 
of  his  bitterest  trials,  he  enjoyed  more  than  ordinary  esteem. 
The  "Estates"  of  the  oldest  province  in  the  Prussian  mon- 
archy, had  not  yet  received  the  royal  rebuke  which  called 
forth  so  indignant  a  protest  from  Jacoby. 

Frederic  William  III.  died  in  1840,  and  his  son  Frederic 
William  IV.  ascended  the  throne.  Instantly,  the  whole 
face  of  politics  was  changed.  That  wide  spread  feeling  of 
discontent,  that  resolute  spirit  of  reform,  which  had  been 
so  patientand  forbearing  under  the  old  regime,  now  awoke 
armed  against  the  new  king  from  the  start.  Among  the 
first  and  the  boldest  to  act  was  Ur.  Jacoby. 


l62  BRIEF  BIOGRAPHIES. 

The  king,  following  the  practice  of  his  family,  went  to 
Konigsberg  to  receive  the  homage  of  his  faithful  East 
Prussian  subjects.  He  was  gracious  and  benevolent. 
From  many  sides,  and  it  is  even  said  from  the  king  him- 
self, the  wish  was  expressed  that  the  Provincial  Estates 
should  lay  before  him  the  questions  that  concerned  them. 
The  Estates  of  East  Prussia  did  this  frankly  and  fearlessly. 
In  answer  to  an  inquiry  of  the  king,  which  of  their  privil- 
eges they  would  like  to  see  specially  confirmed,  they  replied 
that  "it  was  not  their  'privileges'  about  which  ihey  had 
to  address  their  king,  but  a  right  of  the  nation,  which  had 
its  roots  in  the  Law  of  May  22d,  1815,  and  the  fulfilment  of 
which  they  demanded."  His  Majesty  politely,  but  firmly, 
declined  to  accept  such  a  theory.  The  example  of  East 
Prussia  was  followed  by  other  provinces,  and  the  answer 
in  each  case  was  the  same,  though  the  tone  became  less 
and  less  gracious.  In  1841,  the  demands  of  the  province 
of  Silesia  were  rejected  almost  ungraciously. 

At  this  crisis,  a  pamphlet  appeared  in  Strasburg  and  was 
circulated  over  Germany.  It  was  called  "Four  Questions 
answered  by  an  East  Prussian."*  "  Like  a  thunder-clap," 
says  Dr.  Guido  Weiss,  "it  fell  upon  Prussia,  upon  all 
Germany.  I,  who  first  learned  from  this  work  to  think 
politically,  received  in  South  Germany  immediately  the 
impression,  which,  perhaps,  beyond  the  author's  expecta- 
tion, it  there  made.  How  the  Frenchified  rhetorical  Lib- 
eralism of  a  Rotteck  or  a  Welcker  disappeared  before  the 
granite  strength,  before  the  iron  logic,  in  the  works  of  the 
Northerner !     At  that  time,  the  opinion  was  firmly  rooted 

*  "  Vier  Fragen  beantwortet  von  einem  Osifreussen." 


JCIIANN   JACOBY.  1 63 

that  the  history  of  constitutionalism  in  Prussia  would  be 
the  history  of  the  constitution  for  Germany.  Johann 
Jacoby  was  the  author.  Who  was  the  man  ?  It  was  learned 
that  he  was  a  Konigsberg  physician,  highly  esteemed  at 
home  for  his  pure,  solid  character,  and  for  the  professional 
fidelity  which  he  had  always  shown,  and,  especially,  during 
a  season  of  cholera  ;  that  he  was  a  friend  of  the  Minister 
von  Schon. "  * 

This  "epoch-making"  work  proposed  the  four  ques- 
tions:—  "What  do  the  Estates  wish.?" — "What  justifies 
them  ?" — "What  decision  was  given  them  ?" — "What  re- 
mains for  them  to  do  ?"  To  the  last  of  these  it  answers  : 
"That  which  they  have  hitherto  as  a  favor  requested^ 
now,  as  a  proved  right,  to  demand." 

Modesty,  not  fear,  led  Jacoby  to  publish  his  pamph- 
let anonymously,  for  he  mailed  a  copy  directly  to  the  king, 
and  wrote  on  the  title  page,  with  an  audacity  to  which  his 
majesty  was  not  accustomed:  "I  am  the  author,  Johann 
Jacoby,  Doctor  of  Medicine,  Konigsberg."  The  king 
promptly  gave  an  order  for  his  arrest  and  examination. 
He  was  accused  of  nothing  less  than  high  treason.  Being 
called  upon  to  name  his  accomplices,  he  replied  that  only 
the  history  of  his  country  and  the  ministers.  Stein  and 
Hardenberg,  in  their  writings  and  reform  measures,  shared 
his  guilt.  By  the  Superior  Court  of  Berlin,  before  which 
he  was  tried,  he  was  found  guilty,  and  sentenced  to  two 
years  imprisonment,  and  loss  of  honor.  Jacoby  appealed 
to  the  Obertribunal,  and  was  unconditionally  acquitted,  but 

*  Dr.  Guido  Weiss — Speech  in  the  Second  Election  District  of 
Berlin. 


164  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

the  protocol  of  the  deHberations,  the  grounds  of  the  verdict, 
were  refused  him.  It  is  considered  significant  that  the 
veteran  president  of  this  court,  Grollmann,  was  soon  after- 
wards retired  by  the  government. 

Of  Jacoby's  character,  as  developed  at  this  time,  Dr.  A. 
Jung  writes  as  follows  :  "  Jacoby  is  a  man  of  iron  logic,  a 
man  of  Catonian  tirelessness.  He  has  two  practical  in- 
struments, with  which  he  demonstrates  and  refutes,  with 
which  he  accuses  and  defends  :  these  are  the  existing  law, 
and  an  intense  brevity  of  style.  The  graceful  form,  the 
bold  forehead,  the  intelligent,  mild,  blue  eye,  the  beard- 
le-?s,  open  countenance  of  Jacoby,  invite  confidence.  He 
does  not  ask  frivolous  questions  ;  he  does  not  make  frivol- 
ous remarks  ;  he  is  too  deeply  engrossed  in  himself  and  a 
definite  object ;  he  is  a  man  of  the  strictest  reserve  and 
precision  ;  a  foe  of  speaking  for  the  sake  of  speaking  ; 
scarcely  a  friend  of  reflection,  rather  only  of  events,  of 
facts,  of  the  historical  moment,  of  the  concrete  present. 
Thus,  he  is  an  enemy  of  extravagance  and  of  inadequacy 
of  expression,  an  admirer  of  the  simple,  unpretending, 
even  to  the  matter  of  dress,  yet  this  latter  must  be  proper 
for  his  appearance,  at  any  time,  to  defend  the  rights  of  the 
people.  We  recognize,  thankfully,  in  him  great  services, 
a  brilliant  understanding ;  we  must  give  full  credit  to  his 
comprehensive  scientific  culture.  Jacoby  is,  in  a  high 
sense,  a  respected  character  in  our  city,  a  man  of  unusual 
studies.  By  profession  a  physician,  he  is  one  of  those 
firmly  and  clearly  marked  individualities,  whose  unbend- 
ing consistency  and  tendency  to  refer  everything  to  an  ex- 
isting law,  seem  to  have  predestined  them,  at  once,  to  medi- 
cine, jurisprudence,  and  politics;  in  short,  an  individuality 


JOIIANN   JACOBY.  1 65 

whose  whole  career  expresses  that  ethical  coldness,  that 
predominance  of  indifference,  that  unshaken  calmness, 
which  Spinoza  laid  down  as  inherent  in  the  Jewish  nature, 
?n<l  in  his  own  life  so  strikingly  exemplified."  * 

Scarcely  was  Jacoby  out  of  the  dangers  provoked  by  his 
''  Four  Questions,''  than  he  took  up  his  pen  again,  and  sent 
out,  one  after  another,  a  series  of  bold,  trenchant,  and 
effective  pamphlets.  In  1844,  he  published,  "  On  the 
Right  of  an  Acquitted  Person  to  demand  a  Statement  of  the 
Reasons  of  the  Judgment."  Next,  in  the  same  year,  appear- 
ed "The  Ro.al  Word  of  Frederic  William  III.  "Finally, 
"  Prussia  in  the  Year  1845."  **  These  publications  drew 
down  another  accusation,  and  he  was  again  acquitted. 

With  the  year  1848,  Jacoby 's  parliamentary  career  began. 
Almost  at  the  same  time,  he  was  elected  to  the  Lower  House 
of  the  Prussian  "National  Assembly"  and  to  the  German 
Parliament  at  Frankfort  on  the  Main.  In  the  latter  he  was 
the  successor  of  Frederic  von  Raumer,  the  great  historian, 
and  friend  of  America.  When  Prussia  re-called  her  dele- 
gates, Jacoby  was  naturally  one  of  those  who  disputed  the 
right  of  the  government  thus  to  command  the  representa- 
tives of  the  people,  and  he  was  one  of  the  faithful  little  band 
who  followed  Dr.  Loewe  to  Stuttgart.  After  the  dissolu- 
tion of  this  assembly,  Jacoby,  like  the  other  leaders,  fled  to 
Switzerland,  and,  like  them,  was  prosecuted  for  treason.  He 
did  not,  however,  like  them,  accept  a  trial  and  conviction 

*  Dr.  A.  Jung — Konigsberg  utid  die  Konigsberger. 

*  *  The  German  titles  are  respectively : 

"  Uebcr  das  Rccht  des  Frcigesprochenen  die  Aitsfcrtigiing  des  wider 
ihn  ergangcnen  Erkettfttnisses  zji  verlarigen,"  "  Das  Kdnigiiche  Wort 
Friedrich  Wilhelms  III."  and  "Preussen  im  "Yahre  1845." 


'l66  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

171  contumaciam.  He  was  not  willing,  from  a  safe  asylum, 
to  laugh  at  the  impotence  of  his  persecutors.  With  a  bold- 
ness which  has  few  examples,  and  which  the  prudent 
patriot  who  might  not  approve,  was  forced  to  admire,  he 
obeyed  the  summons  of  the  court,  returned  to  Konigsberg, 
and  took  his  place  in  the  prisoner's  box.  The  penalties  of 
treason  in  those  days  were  not  light.  According  to  the 
ancient  law,  then  in  force,  the  crime  of  high  treason  could 
be  punished  by  dragging  the  victim  to  the  place  of  execu- 
tion, breaking  his  body  upon  a  wheel,  and  exposing  the 
fragments  in  public. 

Jacoby  himself  made  a  speech  for  the  defence,  in  the 
course  of  which  he  gave  an  eloquent  statement  of  his 
political  theories  and  aims.  "I  belong  to  the  extreme 
opposition,"  he  said,  "but  against  injustice  and  untruth. 
I  only  did  what  I  held  to  be  my  duty  ;  I  remained  at  the 
post  which  my  constituents  entrusted  to  me.  Three  times 
have  I  been  arraigned  for  political  offences,  three  times 
liave  the  courts  of  the  country  acquitted  me.  In  those 
cases  I  had  maintained,  as  a  publicist,  the  right  of  the 
people  of  Prussia  to  a  representative  constitution,  and  the 
very  next  years  justified  my  demand  ;  in  the  present  case  I 
have  maintained,  as  a  member  of  Parliament,  the  right  of 
the  German  people  to  a  free  and  united  country.  Hope- 
less as  the  present  appears,  the  day  will  yet  come,  when  the 
justice  of  this  demand  will  be  admitted.  The  judgment 
here  belongs  to  no  earthly  court ;  here  history  alone  has 
the  decision.  Here  lies  before  you,  gentlemen  of  the  jury, 
an  unspotted  and  blameless  record."  The  trial  lasted  nine 
hours,  the  deliberations  of  the  jury  one  hour,  and  the  ver- 
dict was  an  acquittal.      The  result  was  a  great  surprise  to 


JOHANN   JACOBY.  167 

the  party  of  reaction.  So  sure  were  the  authorities  of  con- 
viction that  the  wagon  which  was  to  convey  the  accused  to 
prison,  was  drawn  up  before  the  door  of  the  court  house  ; 
and  to  quell  the  expected  popular' tumult  the  streets  were 
lined  with  grenadiers.  The  verdict  was  received  with  great 
enthusiasm,  in  which  even  the  soldiers,  who  had  been  in- 
troduced into  the  room  for  a  different  purpose,  could  not 
be  kept  from  sharing. 

In  the  order  of  time,  however,  this  remarkable  incident 
in  Jacoby's  life  is  preceded  by  one  quite  as  remarkable  and 
even  more  dramatic.  I  have  said  above  that  he  was  a 
member  of  the  First  Prussian  Assembly.  It  was  a  stormy 
and  critical  season.  On  the  ist  of  November,  a  semi-lib- 
eral ministry,  at  the  head  of  which  stood  Herr  von  Pfuel, 
had  been  replaced  by  a  reactionary  ministry,  under  Count 
von  Brandenburg.  On  the  2d,  this  new  cabinet  ap- 
peared before  the  assembly.  With  the  first  words  that  were 
exchanged,  the  hopes  of  reconciliation  and  harmony  fell, 
and  the  excitement  which  reigned  throughout  the  whole 
country,  found  expression  in  the  chamber.  It  was  resolved 
to  send  on  the  same  day  a  deputation  to  the  king  at  Pots- 
dam to  declare  to  him  that  co-operation  with  such  a  min- 
istry was  impossible,  and  to  represent  to  him  the  danger 
of  continuing  in  the  course  just  adopted.  The  deputies 
were  received  by  the  king  in  the  old  castle  of  Sans  Souci. 
It  is  full  of  the  relics,  and  sacred  to  the  memory  of  Fred- 
eric the  Great  ;  and  it  is  possible  that  Frederic  William  IV. 
hoped  to  acquire  in  this  historical  place  some  of  the  spirit 
of  his  great  ancestor  for  the  coming  trial.  The  deputation 
was  ushered  in  by  an  adjutant  ;  Jacoby  was  of  the  number. 
An  address  was  handed  to  the  king,  who  accepted   it  in 


l6S  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

silence,  and  turned  to  leave.  Jacoby  stepped  forward  : 
"We  are  not  come,"  said  he,  "  simply  to  present  this 
address,  but  also  to  render  Your  Majesty  a  report  on  the 
state  of  the  country.  Will  you  listen  to  us?"  "No  !" 
said  the  king,  and  turned  his  back  upon  the  deputies.  Then 
Jacoby  drew  back,  and  said  to  his  comrades,  but  with  reso- 
lute and  emphatic  tones,  which  rang  through  the  palace  : 
"That  is  the  misfortune  of  kings,  that  they  are  not  willing 
to  hear  the  truth  !  " 

It  appears  that  this  was  considered  an  astounding  breach 
of  etiquette,  but  nothing  more  serious.  The  courts  did 
not  take  it  up.  A  school  of  timid  Liberals  pretended  that 
Jacoby 's  bold  words  had  really  done  harm  to  the  cause  of 
reform  by  incensing  the  king,  and  making  future  conces- 
sions more  difficult;  and  the  immediate  events  did  seem  to 
confirm  the  view. 

The  king  honored  the  address  with  a  written  answer, 
which  was  read  the  next  day  in  the  Assembly.  It  was  what 
courtiers  call  a  "  Royal  answer."  His  majesty  said  that 
Count  Brandenburg  possessed  his  confidence  ;  that  he  rep- 
resented principles  which  were  his  own  and  should  never 
be  sacrificed  ;  and  that  he  saw  no  reason  for  dismissing  the 
new  ministry.  Two  or  three  days  later,  the  minister-pres- 
ident appeared  to  the  House  and  read  a  "  royal  message," 
adjourning  the  Landtag  to  the  city  of  Brandenburg,  in 
order  "to  secure  it  from  seditious  outbreaks  in  the  capi- 
tal." The  House  murmured,  and  the  minister,  declared 
that  a  royal  order  was  not  debatable.  Nevertheless  the 
House  did  debate  it,  and  boldly  resolved  that,  as  it  saw  no 
ground  for  transferring  its  sittings  to  Brandenburg,  it 
would  remain    in  Berlin.     Some  of  the  deputies  proved 


JOIIANN   JACOBY.  1 69 

timid  and  hesitating  ;  Jacoby  was  one  of  those  who  did  not 
flinch.  The  sessions  were  held  in  the  royal  theatre,  and 
were  guarded  by  the  "Citizens'  Guard,"  a  species  of  muni- 
cipal militia.  On  the  morning  of  the  loth  of  November, 
It  was  known  that  the  government  was  resolved  to  introduce 
the  troops  of  the  line,  to  disperse  the  assembly,  and  to 
c'ose  the  doors  of  the  theatre.  About  noon,  the  soldiers 
appeared,  Field-marshal  Wrangel  at  their  head  ;  a  parley 
followed  with  the  Citizens'  Guard  ;  a  conflict,  violence,  and 
bloodshed  seemed  inevitable,  when  the  deputies,  yielding 
to  overpowering  force,  left  the  hall  in  a  body,  and  aban- 
doned the  field  to  the  soldiery.  Adolph  Stahr  gives  a 
graphic  account  of  this  closing  scene  :  "The  President  of 
the  National  Assembly  arose,  and  said  :  '  The  force  must 
be  recognized.  In  the  name  of  the  National  Assembly, 
which  yields  before  it,  I  protest  most  solemnly  against  this 
act  of  military  violence.  The  session  is  adjourned  until 
to-morrow  morning.'  The  target  clubs  formed  espaliers. 
As  the  president,  at  the  head  of  the  Assembly,  issued  from 
the  House,  the  Citizens'  Guard  presented  arms.  The  pres- 
ident took  the  arm  of  the  commander  of  the  guard,  and 
the  deputies  left  the  House  in  pairs,  arm-in-arm,  and  silent, 
followed  by  the  people,  whose  sympathetic  cheers  and 
hurras  rang  out  far  into  the  night.  The  battalions  of  Citi- 
zens' Guard  closed  up  the  column,  marching  with  their  hats 
on  their  bayonets.  The  '  Commanding  General  in  the 
Mark,'  was  alone  with  his  troops,  on  the  broad  square."* 
Jacoby's  initiation  into  parliamentary  life  was  therefore 
a  stormy  one,  and  he  did  not  reach  calmer  times  for  many 

*  A.  Stahr — Die  Preussische  Kc"-jolulion,  Vol.  II,  p.  36S. 


I/O  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

years.  Turneil  out  of  doors  with  the  Prussian  Assembly, 
by  force  of  bayonets,  he  shared  six  months  later  in  the  un- 
happy fate  of  the  Rump  Parliament,  at  Stuttgart.  This  has 
already  been  described.  In  Prussia,  after  the  events  above 
related,  the  constitutional  question  was  long  in  suspense, 
until  the  king,  finally,  declining  the  aid  or  counsels  of  the 
people's  representatives,  ordered  his  jurists  to  draft  a  char- 
ter, and  proclaimed  it  as  an  act  of  royal  grace.  From  that 
time,  the  reaction  had  full  power.  The  Democratic  party, 
and  with  it  Jacoby,  retired  practically  from  public  affairs. 
From  1850  to  1863,  Jacoby  quietly  practised  his  profession 
at  Konigsberg. 

On  the  change  of  dynasty,  in  1861,  the  Radicals  emerged 
again  from  their  retirement.  At  the  first  election  after  the 
convention,  a  popular  rebuke  was  administered  to  the  reac- 
tionary and  arrogant  language  of  the  new  king  by  the 
return  of  an  unusually  large  opposition  majority,  which 
included  nearly  all  the  leading  Radicals.  Waldeck,  the 
worthy  leader  of  the  Prussian  democracy.  Dr.  Loewe,  and 
many  others  who  had  long  been  in  retirement  or  exile,  were 
in  the  new  House.  Only  Jacoby  was  absent. ' '  Acting  shrewd- 
ly," says  Wolfgang  Menzel,*  "  he  had  refused  an  election, 
because  his  time  was  not  yet  come."  Two  years  later,  it 
seems,  he  recognized  the  propitious  hour.  Herr  von  Bis- 
marck had  just  accepted  the  premiership ;  and  as  he  was 
known  to  be  a  resolute  man  as  well  as  a  strict  Conservative, 
the  conditions  of  a  serious  conflict  were  easily  perceived. 
To  remain  silent  and  inactive  in  such  a  crisis  was  cowardice. 
Jacoby  accepted  a  candidature  in  a  district  of  Konigsberg-, 
was  elected,  and  took  his  seat  in  the  Lower  House. 


Wolfgang  Menzel — Der  Deutsche  Krieg,  Vol.  I,  p.  100. 


JOHANN   JACOBY.  171 

The  eulogists  whom  I  have  above  quoted,  agree  in  call- 
ing Jacoby  a  man  of  "  iron  consistency."  He  was  to  have 
occasion  to  vindicate  his  consistency  in  a  striking  way, 
against  temptations  to  which  the  lofty  Christian  virtue  of 
his  colleagues  ignominiously  surrendered.  It  was,  of  course, 
natural  that  he  should  oppose,  with  all  the  Liberals  and 
Radicals,  the  unconstitutional  means  by  which  the  Danish 
war  was  organized,  as  well  as  the  unholy  alliance  by  which 
it  was  fought  and  won.  But,  while  they  denounced  as  ille- 
gal the  taxes  levied  in  contempt  of  Parliament,  the  Liberal 
deputies  were  not  ashamed  to  accept  their  fees  out  of  the 
proceeds  of  such  levies.  Not  so  Jacoby.  He,  and  he 
alone  of  all  the  deputies,  declared  that  he  would  not,  by 
accepting  his  deputy's  pay  at  the  hands  of  the  government, 
give  even  a  constructive  recognition  of  the  spoliated  treas- 
ure of  the  State  ;  and  poor  as  he  was,  and  depending 
almost  on  his  pay  for  his  support,  he  steadfastly  refused  to 
compromise  with  his  principles.  As  the  war  with  Austria 
drew  near,  he  labored  hard  to  organize  public  opinion 
against  it.  At  his  suggestion,  the  different  election  districts 
of  Berlin  adopted  a  protest,  which  declared  that  the  war 
was  "  unjustifiable  and  immoral."  Prussia  "had  no  right 
to  the  Duchies,  and  they  alone  and  Parliament  had  the 
authority  to  decide  on  their  fate." 

Finally,  after  Sadowa,  Jacoby  did  not  stultify  himself,  in 
an  excess  of  unreflecting  patriotism.  He  stubbornly  refus- 
ed to  condone  an  unjust  war,  or  a  war  which  he  held  to  be 
unjust,  because  the  aggressor  had  been  crowned  by  victory. 
The  so-called  "vote  of  indemnity"  did  not  receive  his 
support.  His  appearance  in  the  debate  is  thus  described 
by  his  enemy  Menzel  :    "In  the  debate  upon  the  address 


172  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

to  the  throne,  the  old  Konigsberg  Jew  Jacoby  could  not 
refrain  from  obtruding  his  intolerable  harangues.  In  his 
speech,  the  Jew  recognized  magnanimously  the  bravery  of 
the  Prussian  army,  but  said  the  war  was  undertaken  with- 
out, even  against,  the  will  of  the  people,  and  the  victory 
would  profit  not  the  popular  party,  but  only  the  supreme 
commander  of  the  armies.  In  spite  of  this  victory,  the 
war  had  brought  neither  honor  to  the  Prussian  people,  nor 
healing  to  the  German  fatherland.  The  present  never 
judged  itself  impartially.  The  future  would  show  whether 
the  day  of  Biarritz  was  more  fortunate  than  that  of  Olmiitz. 
The  people  wished  a  united,  the  war  had  only  brought  a 
divided  Germany.  To  strengthen  Prussia  was  not  to 
strengthen  Germany.  Should  the  existing  governmental 
system  continue  in  Prussia,  the  new  organization  of  Ger- 
many would  be  to  the  old,  like  death  to  sickness.  The 
government  demands  indemnity  ;  but  for  a  prolonged,  un- 
constitutional, irresponsible  regime  no  assembly  of  the  peo- 
ple could  grant  indemnity,  if  the  old  ministers  kept  their 
places."  * 

It  is  well  known  that  these  views  did  not  prevail.  Still, 
Jacoby  had  vindicated  his  consistency  and  his  courage,  he 
had  shown  that  most  elevated  sort  of  control  which,  in  a 
spirit  of  justice,  can  withstand  the  intoxication  of  a  great 
national  triumph. 

Once  more — and  it  was  Jacoby's  last  prominent  act — he 
tried  to  breast  a  popular  current  which  he  thought  treach- 
erous and  threatening.  It  was  during  the  war  with  France 
and  shortly  after  the    battle   of   Sedan  ;  when  that  great 

*  W.  Menzel — Der  Deutsche  Kricg,  Vol.  II.  p.  118. 


JOIIANN   JACOBY.  1 73 

victory,  followed  as  it  was  by  the  capitulation  of  Mctz, 
seemed  to  decide  the  fate  of  France,  and  to  render  the  end 
of  the  struggle  only  a  question  of  time,  the  exultant  patriots 
at  home  began  to  discuss  the  conditions  of  peace.  De- 
tails were,  of  course,  avoided,  but  upon  one  thing  there 
was  an  emphatic  harmony  of  opinion  :  Alsace  and  Lor- 
raine must  be  annexed.  Military  interests  and  geographi- 
cal interests,  the  rights  of  original  possession  and  the  ties 
of  language,  were  all  invoked  to  justify  the  popular  claim. 
It  seemed  temerity  and  folly  to  oppose  it.  But  the  "  old 
Konigsberg  Jew,"  who  had  so  often  braved  in  behalf  of  the 
people  the  terrors  of  a  military  despotism,  was  not  afraid, 
obeying  his  own  conscience,  to  brave  the  rash  impulses  of 
the  people  themselves.  In  a  public  speech  made  at  Konigs- 
berg, Jacoby  said  that  the  forcible  annexation  of  Alsace  and 
Lorraine  would  be  an  act  of  intolerable  injustice.  Unless 
those  provinces  were  asked,  and  freely  sanctioned  a  change, 
it  ought  not  to  be  effected.  The  military  commander  at 
Konigsberg,  having  no  more  formidable  foe  before  him,  at 
once  opened  war  upon  a  single  man,  and  through  him, 
upon  the  principle  of  freedom  of  speech.  This  time  the 
authorities  did  not  commit  the  fault  of  bringing  the 
accused  before  a  court,  where  he  would  be  sure  of  acquit- 
tal. By  order  of  the  commander,  he  was  arrested  and  shut 
up  in  a  fortress. 

The  counsel  of  Jacoby,  having  exhausted  all  other 
means,  made  a  direct  application  to  Bismarck,  then  in 
camp  before  Paris,  for  the  release  or  immediate  trial  of  his 
client.  The  application  was  denied.  By  this  time,  the 
affair  had  become  generally  known,  and  made  a  great 
sensation,    not  only  in  Germany,    where   the   press   still 


174  BRIEF   BIOGRArHIES. 

retained  some  self-respect,  but  also  in  England,  where  it 
provoked  comments  little  flattering  and  very  embarrassing 
for  the  victorious  Prussian  statesman.  It  was  in  danger  of 
neutralizing  the  satisfaction  with  which  even  the  friends  of 
Germany  hailed  her  triumph  in  the  field.  Finally  the 
reaction  came.  After  Jacoby  had  been  three  weeks  in 
prison,  another  application  was  made  by  his  counsel,  and 
Bismarck  replied  that  his  majesty  had  ordered  his  release. 
Arrested  without  any  legal  warrant,  he  was  in  the  same 
way  discharged,  without  any  legal  satisfaction.  Although 
he  lodged  with  the  State  prosecutor  a  charge  of  false  im- 
prisonment against  the  general — that  was  his  only  relief. 
To  this  day,  the  officer  has  never  been  punished. 

The  features  in  Jacoby's  character  and  the  incidents  in 
his  life,  as  they  have  been  described  in  this  short  sketch, 
fully  justify  his  choice  as  one  of  the  subjects  of  this  volume. 
His  active  career  is  indeed  ended.  But  as  the  type  of  a 
fearless  Radical,  and  a  just  patriot, — a  Radical  who  never 
wavered  in  the  cruel  days  of  adversity,  a  patriot  who  could 
reason  even  with  a  delirium  of  national  exultation, — a  man 
whose  virtue,  defending  the  gravest  political  principles, 
would  not  tamper  with  the  most  transient  question  of 
ethics, — a  man  thus  endowed  by  nature  and  formed  by 
discipline — Jacoby  deserves  the  study  and  admiration  of  the 
present,  as  he  enjoyed  the  respect  of  the  last  generation. 
At  the  same  time,  these  very  traits  made  it  impossible  that 
Jacoby  should  ever  become  a  statesman,  in  the  ordinary  sense 
of  the  term.  His  work  wasthe  assertion  of  abstract  politic- 
al principles,  without  bargains,  compromises,  or  conces- 
sions ;  but  this  is  not,  in  a  strict  sense,  statesmanship.  In 
a  good,  and  not  a  bad  sense,  he  was  a  revolutionist.     His 


JOHANN   JACOBY.  175 

methods  were  destructive  ;  of  the  bad,  it  is  true,  but  still 
destructive,  and  not  constructive.  He  stubbornly  resisted 
evil  measures,  but  a  policy  of  exclusive  resistance  seldom 
reaches  positive  ends.  As  he  is  not  a  statesman  with  a 
carefully  developed  programme,  so  he  is  not  an  orator 
with  a  thoroughly  trained  art.  His  strength  as  a  speaker 
lies  rather  in  the  point  and  pregnancy  of  his  epigram- 
matic remarks,  in  the  intense  sincerity  of  his  convic- 
tions, in  the  imposing  boldness  of  his  manner.  No  great 
speeches  of  his  survive.  He  is  a  fine  scholar  and  a  clear 
writer  ;  but  he  is  too  earnest  a  man  to  waste  time  in  bal- 
ancing phrases  and  composing  antitheses. 


XIV. 


Herr  Hasselmann. 


HE  right  of  the  Social-democrats  to  a  representa- 
tive in  these  pages  is  happily,  or  unhappily, 
beyond  dispute.  Their  numbers  in  the  R.  ichstag, 
and  the  powerful  constituency  that  stands  behind  them,  as 
well  as  their  noisy  and  obtrusive  boldness,  compel  even  the 
most  unwilling  chronicler  to  give  them  notice.  And  this 
compliment  is  after  all  a  feeble  one,  when  compared  with 
the  splendid  homage  paid  to  them  by  the  imperial  govern- 
ment. If  all  other  means  of  notoriety  failed  the  socialist 
faction  ;  if  there  were  no  other  reason  for  devoting  an  article 
to  their  restless  agitation,  both  the  means  and  the  reason 
could  be  found  in  the  exceptional  honor  paid  them  by  the 
ministers,  the  legislators,  the  police,  and  the  courts  of  the 
German  Empire.  So  important  was  this  element,  even  in 
1 871,  that  the  new  constitution  expressly  put  it  under 
imperial  supervision,  by  authorizing  the  Reichstag  to  legis- 
late on  the  subjects  of  the  press  and  public  meetings.  The 
article  has  been  loyally  and  abundantly  enforced.     Scarcely 


IIERR   IIASSELMANN.  1 77 

a  session  has  passed  without  some  bill,  directly  or  in- 
directly aimed  at  the  agitation  of  the  Socialistic  and  Demo- 
cratic party.  Next  to  the  army,  the  Workingmen's  Union 
has  been  the  object  of  greatest  solicitude  to  the  impe- 
rial chancelry.  It  deserves,  therefore,  to  be  described  as 
one  among  the  political  factions  and  forces  of  Germany, 
and  its  representative  has  a  right  to  rank  among  the  politi- 
cal leaders. 

It  is  true  that  the  claim  of  Hasselmann  to  act  or  appear 
as  this  representative,  does  not  command  the  same  uncon- 
ditional acquiescence.  He  is  only  one  among  many 
equals,  if  not  among  some  superiors.  The  so-called 
' '  Social-democratic  party  "  in  the  Reichstag  numbers  but 
nine  members  ;  but  of  these,  three  may  fairly  compete  with 
Hasselmann  for  the  leadership,  and  two  of  these  even  repre- 
sent a  rival  and  in  some  respects  opposite  policy.  Hasen- 
clever,  the  colleague  and  friend  of  Hasselmann,  is  the  presi- 
dent of  the  "  General  Workingmen's  Union  of  Germany,"* 
and  from  the  position  derives  great  authority.  Bebel  and 
Liebknecht  are  Saxons  ;  their  headquarters  are  at  Leipsic, 
whence  they  issue  the  Volksstaat,  and  they  are  deeply  inter- 
ested in  the  "International,"  instead  of  the  "Working- 
men's  Union."  But  these  schisms  and  feuds  will  be 
explained  in  another  place.  Hasselmann's  position  and  his 
career  are  both  striking  enough  to  be  representative  of  the 
Socialistic  agitation  in  Germany,  and  no  further  explana- 
tion of  the  choice  is  necessary. 

It  is,  however,  necessary  to  give  some  account  of  the 
organization  of  the  workingmen  as  a  political  party,  for, 

*  Allgemeitur  Deutschcr  Arbeiter-  Verein. 


178  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

without  it,  the  leaders  of  that  party  cannot  be  understood. 
In  the  sketch  of  Schulze-Delitzsch,  the  antagonism  between 
that  Teutonic  "Poor  Richard,"  and  the  more  radical  and 
sweeping  schemes  of  Lassalle,  were  briefly  hinted  at,  but 
were  not  explained  at  length.  This  antagonism,  which  at 
last  became  a  personal  quarrel,  is  the  indispensable  key  to 
the  earlier  stages  of  the  Socialistic  agitation.  And  since 
Schulze,  as  a  living  leader,  has  already  been  sketched,  it 
will  only  be  necessary  to  give  some  account  of  a  rival  far 
more  audacious,  far  more  brilliant,  and  far  less  fortunate. 

Ferdinand  Lassalle  was  in  all  respects  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  men  whom  modern  Germany  has  produced.  A 
Jew  by  descent  and  a  friend  of  Heine,  he  had  the  restless 
energy  of  his  race  and  the  pitiless  radicalism  of  his  master. 
He  was  no  Sans-culoiie,  no  vulgar  conspirator,  no  unlettered 
demagogue.  He  passed  the  gymnasium  and  the  university, 
and  studied  law  and  philosophy  as  far  as  the  best  teachers 
of  Germany  could  carry  him.  With  working  men  he  had 
no  sort  of  class  sympathy.  He  took  up  their  cause  merely 
out  of  the  impulse  of  a  generous  heart,  a  burning  hatred 
of  oppression  and  injustice,  a  philosophic  discontent  with 
the  real  or  fancied  evils  of  existing  society.  If  he  had  been 
an  American,  with  the  same  nature,  he  would  have  been  a 
determined  Abolitionist.  In  Germany,  he  thought  the 
working  classes  were  the  victims  of  a  false  adjustment  of 
social  relations  ;  and,  when  this  conviction  had  once  taken 
possession  of  his  soul,  he  served  it  with  all  the  loyalty  of  his 
fiery  nature. 

His  chivalrous  espousal,  when  only  twenty  years  old,  of 
the  cause  of  the  unfortunate  Countess  Hatzfeld,  is  one  of 
the  most  romantic  incidents  of  real  life;  and  it  was  made 


HERR   HASSELMANN.  1 79 

more  remarkable  by  the  fidelity  and  enthusiasm  with  which 
that  aristocratic  lady  long  supported  the  socialistic  schemes 
of  her  champion.  His  oratory  was  powerful  and  brilliant, 
and  a  reference  to  it  stirs  the  blood  of  all  who  ever  sat 
beneath  its  charms.  It  was  not  musical  and  persuasive, 
but  trenchant,  imposing,  and  commanding ;  fearless  and 
ready  in  retort,  terrible  in  the  force  of  invective.  He  once 
spoke  three  days  in  self-defence  before  a  court  at  Cologne, 
and  his  speech  is  studied  as  a  model,  even  by  aspiring  con- 
servatives. Lassalle  was  a  born  agitator,  if  not  revolu- 
tionist, and  he  made  war  upon  society  till  his  death.  His 
ideal  was  the  Volkstaat,  the  people's  state,  which  he  set 
up  in  contrast  to  the  state  of  the  aristocracy  and  the 
bourgeoisie,  and  his  scheme  included  in  its  details  the  most 
comprehensive  and  immediate  interference  of  the  State  in 
the  interest  of  the  proletariat. 

Lassalle's  violent  career  met  a  violent  end,  and  after 
that,  a  schism  broke  out  in  the  ranks  of  his  followers.  At 
first  it  was  rather  a  geographical  difference.  The  head- 
quarters of  Lassalle  had  been  at  Leipsic,  and  the  Saxon 
Socialists,  as  the  most  active  and  numerous,  demanded  that 
Leipsic  should  continue  to  be  the  centre  of  agitation. 
Their  champion,  who  is  alone  worthy  to  be  the  successor 
of  Lassalle,  is  Carl  Marx,  who,  if  he  were  not  an  exile, 
would  be  the  real  leader  of  the  working-men  in  Germany. 
Marx  is  the  founder  of  the  "International,"  which  made  a 
great  deal  of  unnecessary  noise.  This  was  a  step  in 
advance  of  Lassalle,  though  it  may  easily  be  sustained  on 
his  theories.  The  organ  of  this  party  is  the  Volksstaat, 
which  is  published  at  Leipsic.  The  Berlin  party  centred 
around  the  "General  Workingmen's  Union  of  Germany," 


loO  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

of  which   the   president   was    Herr   von   Schweitzer.     Its 
organ  is  the  Neucr  Social- Democrat. 

Between  the  principles,  if  the  word  may  be  used,  of 
those  two  organizations,  there  is  no  perceptible  difference. 
Both  worship  the  name  and  memory  of  Lassalle,  and  both 
claim  to  have  no  other  aim  than  faithfully  to  further  the 
dissemination  of  his  ideas,  and  to  procure  the  triumph  of 
his  theories.  But  they  differ  about  the  means  to  be 
employed.  The  Leipsic  party  believes  in  an  international 
league  and  a  simultaneous  agitation  of  workingmen  in  all 
countries.  The  Berlin  party,  on  the  contrary,  prefers  to 
organize  the  Germans  by  themselves,  and  by  concentrat- 
ing their  energies,  to  render  success  more  speedy  and 
certain. 

Marx  was  an  exile  in  England,  and  the  control  of  the 
Leipsic  party,  and  the  representation  of  the  International 
in  Germany,  passed  into  the  hands  of  three  men,  Bebel, 
Liebknecht,  and  Becker.  The  latter  is  the  pamphleteer  of 
the  concern,  and  innumerable  brochures  from  his  pen  may 
be  bought  by  those  who  have  the  curiosity  or  the  time  to 
read  them.  The  other  two  are  members  of  the  Reichstag, 
It  has,  however,  been  their  misfortune  to  spend  in  prison 
a  good  portion  of  the  time  which  might,  otherwise,  have 
been  devoted  to  the  legislation  of  their  country  ;  and  their 
reputation,  as  parliamentarians,  is  yet  to  be  made.  The 
only  occasion  on  which  I  had  the  honor  of  hearing  Herr 
Bebel,  was  in  January  last.  The  Chancellor  of  the 
Empire,  Prince  Bismarck,  had  made  a  long  speech  against 
the  press  and  socialism,  and  had  mentioned,  incidentally,  • 
the  sympathy  of  the  social  democrats  with  the  commune 
of  Paris.     Bebel  did  not  deny  the  fact,  but  he  opposed  the 


IIERR   IIASSELMANN.  l8l 

inference  drawn  from  it.  He  mounted  the  speaker's  plat- 
form, and,  under  cover  of  a  personal  explanation,  was  ges- 
ticulating wildly  and  declaiming  like  an  injured  patriot, 
when  a  parliamentary  rule,  enforced  by  the  chairman,  cut 
him  ignominiously  off.  He  is  an  impassioned,  vigorous 
speaker,  not  without  a  certain  force.  Liebknecht  is  a  more 
politic  man,  a  pamphleteer  like  Becker,  and  he  and  Bebel 
are  always  mentioned  together,  like  Beaumont  and 
Fletcher. 

In  the  meantime,  the  Berlin  party  has  also  passed  into 
other  hands.  Schweitzer  had  become  too  conservative 
for  the  younger  men,  A  coalition  was  formed  against 
him,  and  he  was  expelled  as  a  traitor.  The  two  ungrateful 
disciples,  whom  he  had  trained  and  brought  forward, 
divided  the  succession  between  them.  Hasenclever  became 
president  of  the  Union,  Hasselmann  editor  of  the  Neuer 
Social-Democrat.  The  former  is  the  practical  man  of 
business,  the  organizer,  the  executive-manager.  The 
latter  is  the  literary  apostle,  the  fiery  advocate  of  the  cause. 
They  work  together  as  harmoniously  and  efficiently  as 
Bebel  and  Liebknecht  at  Leipsic,  and  among  such  turbu- 
lent and  disorderly  spirits,  present  a  strange  spectacle  of 
peaceful  co-operation, 

Wilhelm  Hasselmann  was  born  on  the  25th  of  Septem- 
ber, 1844,  in  Bremen.  He  studied  at  the  polytechnic 
school  at  Hanover,  and,  with  a  view  to  becoming  a  chem- 
ist, at  the  Universities  of  Gottingen  and  Berlin.  This 
academic  career,  which  would  perhaps  have  made  an 
excellent  conservative  physicist,  he- interrupted  suddenly, 
and  embraced  the  cause  and  the  fortunes  of  the  Socialist 
party.      He    seems    to    have    preferred    the    elements    of 


l82  BRIEF   BIOGRArniES. 

society  to  those  of  nature,  for  his  experiments.  His  merits  as 
a  club  orator  attracted  the  notice  of  Schweitzer,  who  made 
him  a  Secretary  of  the  Union,  and  afterwards  an  assistant 
editor  of  the  Social- Democrat.  When  Schweitzer  was 
expelled,  as  above  stated,  Hasselmann  naturally  succeeded 
him  in  the  chief-editorship.  In  a  business  sense,  the  sheet 
is  a  great  success,  and  its  daily  circulation  is  said  to  number 
over  20,000  copies.  No  small  share  of  this  is  due  to  the 
literary  contributions  of  Hasselmann.  Day  by  day,  for 
several  years,  he  has  covered  the  first  page  of  that  sheet 
with  his  revolutionary  proclamations,  in  which  indefinite 
cures  for  undefined  evils  are  set  forth  with  all  the  delightful 
candor  of  his  class. 

Judged  by  the  standard  of  his  readers,  Hasselmann's 
literary  capacity  is,  no  doubt,  considerable.  Dr.  Rudolph 
Meyer  speaks  of  it  in  terms^f  praise  :  "  The  present  man 
of  science,  of  the  Union,"  he  says,  "is  Hasselmann, 
whom  von  Schweitzer  engaged  as  sub-editor.  He  speaks 
fluently,  and  writes  a  la  Marat."  *  And  again  Meyer  says  : 
* '  Since  the  Union  owns  only  three  sheets,  it  has  but  few 
writers.  After  the  talented  Dr.  von  Schweitzer,  who  was 
familiar  with  many  sciences,  had  been  expelled,  the  party 
had  no  representative  of  much  learning.  The  editor  Has- 
selmann has  pursued  no  regular  course  of  study,  but  was 
brought  into  the  right  course  by  Schweitzer,  and  has  made 
himself  well  informed  on  Socialistic  systems,  and  in  the 
revolutionary  history  of  France.  What  he  lacks  in  deep 
knowledge,  he  makes  up  by  a  great  literary  talent.      Of  all 

*  Der  Emancipationskampf  des  vierten  Standes  in  Dcutschland. 
Beilin.  1S74,  p.  98. 


HERR    HASSELMANN.  1 83 

Social-democrats  lie  has  the  most   effective  style  for  the 
workingmen. "  * 

After  this,  the  reader  will,  perhaps,  be  anxious  to  have  a 
specimen  of  the  German  Marat's  workmanship.  The 
Socialists  of  Germany  borrow  many  of  their  favorite  words 
from  the  jargon  of  their  brethren  in  France,  Bourgeoisie, 
proletariat,  canaille,  etc.,  being  common  to  both.  Hassel- 
mann,  in  particular,  who  makes  a  speciality  of  French 
history,  and  above  all  French  revolutionary  histor)--, 
abounds  in  terms  fimiliar  to  students  of  radical  Paris  liter- 
ature. He  loves  to  picture  to  himself  a  German  reign  of 
terror,  like  that  of  Paris  ;  he  imitates  the  style  of  the  club 
orator  of  that  age,  and,  in  many  respects,  perhaps  uncon- 
sciously, the  same  language  comes  to  serve  him  and  them. 
The  following  extract  is  from  one  of  Hasselmann's  favorite 
compositions,  entitled  Die  Canaille,  which  may  be  called 
in  English,  "The  Rabble." 

"Who  are  the  men  with  muscles  firm  as  iron,  but  with 
pale  and  haggard  faces,  who  hold  watch  by  the  glow  of  fur- 
naces, and  earn  their  bread  in  the  light  of  molten  iron? 
Who  are  the  men  that  guide  the  noisy  machines  in  the 
dust  and  racket  of  factories,  and  under  whose  hands  the 
most  wonderful  products  of  skilful  industry  come  into 
being }  Who  are  the  men  that  build  the  palaces  in  heat 
and  cold,  in  sunshine  and  rain,  under  the  open  heavens .? 
Who  are  the  men  that  laboriously  guide  the  plough  over 
the  fields  and  wrest  from  the  soil  its  products  .? 

"Ask  the    frivolous    dandy,   ask  the    insolent  country 

*  Der  Emancipationskampf  des  vierten  Standes  in  Deulschland. 
Berlin,  1874,  p.  150. 


1 84  BRIEF  BIOGRAPHIES. 

squire,  ask  the  covetous  usurer,  ask  all  those  who  live  and 
riot  in  palaces,  and  squander  the  labor  of  others  ;  they 
will  tell  you. 

"  They  will  say  :  '  These  are  the  rabble  ! '  Who  is  yon- 
der woman,  who  crouches  in  her  wretched  hovel  over  the 
corpse  of  her  husband,  whom  they  brought  in  to  her,  dead 
and  mangled  in  the  service  of  capital  ?  Who  are  the  chil- 
dren that,  starving  and  freezing,  must  roam  about  in  the 
early  morning  among  smokfng  chimneys  ?  Who  are  the 
rhaidens  who  wander  homeless  and  in  despair,  a  child  on 
the  breast,  cast  out  by  human  society,  or  who  have  already 
thrown  away  shame,  and  in  velvet  and  silk,  but  with  empty 
hearts  and  sore  bodies,  hunted  by  the  police,  hurry 
through  the  streets .-' 

"Ask  the  speculators  in  women  and  children,  ask  the 
seducers ;  they  will  not  fail  to  give  you  an  answer. 

"They  will  say  :   '  This  is  the  rabble  ! ' 
*****  **** 

"Yes,  '  the  people  is  a  rabble,'  as  long  as  the  bourgeois 
society  subsists.  Lassalle  declared  once,  with  bitter  irony, 
that  if  the  liberal  press  received  the  order  to  print  this  sen- 
tence at  the  head  of  every  journal,  it  would  not  dare,  in  its 
cowardice,  to  disobey.  It  is  a  bitter  misfortune  that  the 
order  is  not  given  ;  for,  day  by  day,  the  people  must  read 
that,  so  long  as  it  does  not  itself  put  its  hand  to  the  work 
in  order  Jo  ^Dreak  road  for  the  new  Social  institutions,  it  is 
not,  and  under  the  pressure  of  the  hard  law  of  wages 
cannot  be  anything  else  than  the  sufferijig,  despised 
rabble. 

"  People,  learn  to  understand  your  misery ;  people, 
feflect  that  your  inconstancy  and  sluggishness  alpr^e  bear 


HERR   IIASSELMANN.  1 85 

the  blame,  if  we  do  not  arise  and  force  the  recognition  of 
the  rights  of  man  in  the  State." 

This  is  the  sort  of  Hterature  on  which  German  SociaHsm 
thrives.  It  is  easy  to  recognize  in  it  the  violence  of  Marat, 
though  the  German  Canaille  are  perhaps  not  expected 
to  know,  that  Marat  was  more  than  a  mere  phrase-maker  ; 
that  he  did  not  hide  an  intellectual  or  a  moral  timidity 
under  the  cover  of  rattling  words,  but  went  straight  to  his 
meaning  with  a  ferocious  but  effective  frankness.  Still,  the 
leading  articles  of  Hasselmann,  as  the  best  that  are  to  be 
obtained,  have  upon  the  workingmen  an  influence,  of  which 
the  historian  is  unfortunately  obliged  to  take  account. 

At  the  last  general  election  Hasselmann  was  a  candidate 
in  many  districts,  but  suceeded  in  barely  carrying  one  of 
them.  In  the  district  of  Elberfeld- Barmen,  where  there 
are  large  manufactories,  and  a  large  industrious  population, 
he  succeeded  in  gaining  the  poll  over  his  national  liberal 
competitor  by  a  majority  of  just  381,  in  a  total  vote  of 
25,000.  But  this  slender  margin  was  enough  to  fill  the 
hearts  of  his  constituents  with  present  joy,  and  their  souls 
with  visions  of  future  glory.  One  old  woman,  in  her 
enthusiasm,  burned  her  spinning-wheel,  her  only  means 
of  support  ;  but  in  a  neighboring  district,  where  the 
Socialist  candidate  was  defeated,  a  young  laborer  was  heard 
to  sigh,  "Alas!  now  we  must  continue  to  eat  bread  and 
potatoes." 

It  is  probable,  nevertheless,  that  the  legislative  achieve- 
ments of  the  deputy  Hasselmann  do  not  quite  come  up 
to  the  hopes  of  his  ardent  electors.  The  reader  will  re- 
call the  famous  figure,  which  Edmund  Burke  in  his 
"Reflections    on     the    Revolution    in    France,"    used    to 


1 86  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

describe  certain  English  sympathizers  with  that  revolution. 
"The  vanity,  restlessness,  petulance,  and  spirit  of  intrigue, 
of  several  petty  cabals,  who  attempt  to  hide  their  total  want 
of  consequence  in  bustle  and  noise,  and  puffing  and 
mutual  quotation  of  each  other,  make  you  imagine  that 
our  contemptuous  neglect  of  their  abilities  is  a  mark  of 
general  acquiescence  in  their  opinions.  No  such  thing,  I 
ajiGure  you.  Because  half  a  dozen  grasshoppers,  under  a 
fern,  make  a  field  ring  with  their  importunate  chink,  while 
thousands  of  great  cattle  repose  beneath  the  shadow  of 
the  British  oak,  chew  the  cud  and  are  silent,  pray  do  not 
imagine  that  these  who  make  the  noise  are  the  only  inhabi- 
tants of  the  field  ;  that,  of  course,  they  are  many  in  num- 
ber, or,  that  after  all,  they  are  other  than  the  little  shriv- 
velled,  meagre,  hopping,  though  loud  and  troublesome 
insects  of  the  hour."  The  application  to  the  Social- 
democrats,  in  the  Reichstag,  is  incomplete  in  one  respect. 
The  legislative  grasshoppers  are  not  allowed  to  chink  and 
hop  at  will,  under  the  contempt  of  the  silent  cattle ; 
but  they  are  honored  and  made  notorious  by  the  notice 
which  they  do  not  deserve.  It  was  while  he  was  defend- 
ing himself  and  fellows  against  an  impending  law,  that  I 
first  heard  Herr  Hasselmann  in  the  tribune. 

The  Socialist  leader  is  a  young,  almost  boyish-looking 
man,  with  long  hair  falling  over  his  shoulders  in  a 
romantic,  poetical  style.  He  dresses  with  the  modesty 
becoming  a  representative  of  what  he  calls  the  Cd7iaille. 
His  oratory  is  dreary  enough.  Although  he  reads  his 
harangue  from  manuscript  or  copious  notes,  and  hurls 
at  the  house  plenty  of  his  blood-thirsty  epigrams,  his 
delivery    is   so    tame    and  pointless  that  he  rarely  makes 


HERR   IIASSELMANN.  1 87 

any  impression.  When  he  reaches  his  long  finger  out 
at  the  placid  country  members,  the  effect  is  far  from 
striking.  As  a  speaker,  he  is  less  vigorous  than  Bebel, 
and  less  authoritative  than  Hasenclever.  But  these  two 
make  short  and  abrupt  appeals,  while  the  man  of  sus- 
tained speech,  of  fatal  prolixity,  is  Herr  Hasselmann. 

As  we  have  given  a  specimen  of  this  gentleman's  news- 
paper writing,  it  is  necessary  to  give  also  a  specimen  of 
his  parliamentary  efforts.  The  very  speech  above  men- 
tioned will  serve  our  purpose  as  well  as  any  other.  The 
speaker  had  mentioned  certain  social  evils  which  the 
Socialists  oppose,  and  he  continued  : 

"That  we  brand  these  things  is  awkward  for  certain 
persons,  who  cannot  throw  stones,  because  they  themselves 
live  in  glass  houses  ;  and  who  represent  us  as  traveling 
agitators,  with  a  club  in  one  hand,  and  a  bottle  of 
petroleum  in  the  other.  To  describe  the  red  republic, 
communism,  and  atheism  as  our  secret  programme,  this 
is  possible  only  to  a  police  agent,  or  to  a  writer  on  the 
subsidized  press.  If,  on  the  one  hand,  you  prosecute 
atheism,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  make  Falk  laws,  you 
will  find  yourselves  not  on  the  golden  middle  way,  but 
at  the  parting  of  the  ways.  Let  every  man  save  him- 
self, in  his  own  way,  as  Frederic  the  Great,  himself  an 
atheist,  did.  We  do  not  sow  evil  in  the  present  society, 
as  the  minister  alleged,  but  we  bring  the  evil  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  people,  and  no  penal  code  will  prevent 
us  from  continuing  to  do  that  in  the  future.  When 
the  minister  speaks  of  officials  and  teachers,  on  whom  the 
vSocialistic  theories  exercise  a  pernicious  influence,  his 
remark  reflects  not  only  his  fears,  but,   also,   an  indirect 


l88  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

acknowledgment  of  the  truth  of  those  theories.  This  fear, 
and  this  recognition,  are  verj'  flattering  for  us,  and  we 
accept  the  compliment.  The  words  which  the  Minister 
repeated,  that  the  English  laborers,  seek  to  make  their  ill 
condition  better,  while  the  Germans  must  first  be  con- 
vinced that  their  condition  is  ill,  were  uttered  thirteen  years 
ago  by  Lassalle.  At  that  time  they  were  justified  ;  to-day 
they  are  not.  As  the  Minister  to-day  spoke  of  bringing 
out  cannon,  it  was  openly  a  far  greater  and  more  serious 
appeal  to  the  laboring  classes,  than  any  Socialist  agitator, 
in  a  people's  club,  ever  attempted.  You  may  adopt  the 
pending  measure,  or  not  :  we  shall  continue  to  work 
and  fight  for  Socialistic  ideas  with  the  same  energy  as  in 
the  past." 

This  speech,  which  was  very  long,  and  of  which  this 
extract  is  only  the  closing  paragraph,  was  calmly  received 
by- the  house,  and  only  one  or  two  of  the  more  violent 
passages  caused  slight  murmurs.  But  the  Minister,  Count 
Eulenburg,  who  is  referred  to  so  often  by  Hasselmann, 
thought  it  deserved  a  special  reply.  His  second  speech 
contained  such  a  tribute  to  Hasselmann  himself,  and  to 
the  paper  which  Hasselmann  edits,  that  an  extract  from 
that  will  contribute  to  the  characterization  of  our  hero. 
Hasselmann  had  been  followed  by  Lasker,  who  took  the 
Liberal  ground,  that  the  Socialistic  principles  were  false 
and  dangerous,  but  they  ought  to  be  combatted  by  educa- 
tion and  enlightenment,  rather  than  by  repressive  statutes. 
Against  this  "ideal  standpoint,"  the  Minister  of  the 
Interior  felt  bound  to  protest.  "  How  can  you  compare 
the  effect  of  such  a  remedy  with  the  effect  created  when 
Herr   Hasselmann,    from   this  tribune,    or  in    a  popular 


HEKR   HASSELMANN.  1 89 

assembly,  holds  a  two  hours'  speech  ?  Thither  goes  a 
crowd,  which  hardly  know  how  to  follow  a  line  of  thought, 
and  comes  away  with  excited  feelings,  and  the  conviction  : 
We  have  heard  our  evangelist,  and  we  are  ready  to  suffer 
death  for  the  ideas  that  the  speaker  has  set  forth.  And  the 
press  of  these  gentlemen,  the  Socialistic  journals,  and 
pamphlets,  and  poems,  they  all  find  their  way  into  the 
houses,  into  the  families,  into  the  work-shops  of  the 
laborers,  and  no  other  writings  are  read.  The  cabman 
must  read  his  Social-Democrat,  by  day,  and  the  working- 
man,  when  he  comes  home  at  night,  cries  out  :  '  Where 
is  my  Social-Democrat  ?  I  must  learn  how  I  am  to  con- 
duct myself  at  my  work.'  In  all  these  circles,  only  this 
Socialistic  sheet  is  read,  and  by  it  the  readers  swear." 

The  Prussian  minister  is  by  no  means  a  skilful  artist, 
but  this  picture  is  tolerably  faithful.  At  least  it  errs  more 
from  incompleteness  of  detail,  than  from  an  excess  of 
color.  In  his  argument  for  repressive  legislation,  against 
two  evils  that  he  deplores,  the  Minister,  of  course,  only 
repeated  with  moderate  force  the  venerable  arguments  of 
the  Conservative  guardians  of  society.  In  fact,  any  Liberal 
could  retort  that  the  Minister  is  less  concerned  about  how 
the  "  crowd"  acquire  political  principles,  than  what  they 
acquire.  If  they  read  only  orthodox  sheets,  and  carried 
home  from  their  meetings  only  sound  Conservative  views, 
the  government  might  not  stop  to  inquire  whether  they 
thought  out  those  views  themselves,  or  whether  they 
accepted  them  on  the  authority  of  their  single  orthodox 
paper,  and  their  favorite  conservative  orator.  The  friends 
of  an  impartial  and  independent  press,  of  a  Liberal  polit- 
ical enlightenment,   the  Prussian  Government  and  Count 


IQO  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

von  Eulenburg  have  notoriously  never  been.  The  argu- 
ment that  the  workingmen  read  with  impKcit  faith  only 
their  one  Socialistic  sheet,  instead  of  studying  all  sides,  and 
by  reflection  reaching  an  enlightened  opinion,  was,  there- 
fore, a  piece  of  special  pleading. 

But  it  is  open  to  Liberals  to  advance  such  an  argument, 
not  only  against  the  venerable  reactionaries,  who  read 
only  their  Kreuz-Zeitung,  but  also  against  the  children  of 
toil,  who  must  satisfy  iheir  intellectual  hunger  with  such 
food  as  Herr  Hasselmann  daily  sets  before  them.  In  the 
obligation  to  read  such  literature  lies  one  of  the  hardest 
of  the  burdens  of  the  workingman.  It  is  not  enough  that 
the  writer  perverts  the  political  reason  of  his  readers  ;  he 
also  depraves  their  literary  taste.  They  acquire  a  dislike 
for  serious  thinking,  for  positive  political  principles,  by 
being  taught  that  politics  consist  in  the  negation  of  all 
existing  institutions,  and  the  frantic  repetition  of  formulas 
which  have  no  sense.  In  this  sort  of  teaching,  as  has  been 
said  above,  and  shown  by  example,  Herr  Hasselmann  is  a 
master, 

I  do  not  affirm  that  he  is  a  willful  impostor.  It  is  possi- 
ble, and  indeed  probable,  that  he  is  morally  sincere,  that 
he  himself,  not  less  than  his  unfortunate  readers,  is 
deceived  by  his  own  sounding  phrases.  A  very  young 
man,  leaving  his  studies  just  at  the  time  when  they  were 
beginning  to  mellow  and  discipline  his  mind,  he  sailed  out 
upon  a  sea  of  treacherous  verbiage,  without  the  slightest 
logical  experience  to  guide  his  course.  To-day,  he,  doubt- 
less, influences  more  readers  than  any  other  journalist  in 
Germany.  He  appears  to  be,  and  probably  is  in  person, 
a  very  harmless  character,  and  cannot  realize  what  a  fatal 


HERR   IIASSELMANN.  I9I 

service  he  does  his  eager  clients.  What  he  has  been  in  the 
past  he  will  continue  to  be  in  the  future.  In  case  of  any 
violent  disorders  in  the  State,  Hasselmann  may  be  heard 
of  in  more  serious  work  ;  but  in  the  immediate  future  he 
will  continue  to  proclaim  his  fiery  generalities  in  his  news- 
paper, and  occasionally  from  the  floor  of  the  Rekhslag. 


XV. 


Herr  Sonnemann. 


P  to  this  point,  our  list  of  biographies  includes 
leaders  or  representatives  of  every  important  party 
in  German  politics.  The  reader  will  observe  that 
we  have  spoken  interchangeably  of  the  Prussian  Landtag, 
or  Diet,  and  the  Rekhstag,  or  Imperial  Parliament,  and,  if 
this  had  been  a  treatise  on  politics,  instead  of  on  political 
leaders,  a  certain  degree  of  confusion  might  have  en- 
sued. In  fact,  of  course,  the  divisions,  if  not  the  propor- 
tions of  parties,  are  the  same  in  the  one  legislature  as 
in  the  other.  The  fraction  called  ''Alsatians,"  made  up 
of  the  delegation  from  the  two  annexed  provinces,  is,  of 
course,  found  only  in  a  German  Parliament ;  and  the 
"Social-democrats,"  who  now  and  then  are  carried  into 
the  Reichstag,  on  the  shoulders  of  universal  suffrage,  are 
less  successful  for  the  Prussian  House,  which  is  chosen 
by  indirect  election.  And,  as  the  ministers  in  Ger- 
many are  not  required,  as  in  England,  to  sit  as  mem- 
bers of  Parliament,  some   of  the  characters  are  not  even 


HERR   SONNEMANN.  I93 

deputies.  Our  aim  has  been  to  sketch,  in  a  measure, 
the  nature  of  party  relations  in  the  new  Empire,  and 
the  men  who,  whether  they  be  deputies  or  mini.-ters,  or 
neither,  are,  in  any  sense,  characteristic  of  those  relations. 
At  this  point,  therefore,  it  may  be  expedient  to  make  a 
brief  recapitulation. 

The  leading  party  in  Germany  is  the  National  Liberal, 
which,  in  the  Reichstag,  has  148  members.  Its  import- 
ance has  been  honored  in  the  names  of  Bennigsen,  Sim- 
son,  and  Lasker.  Some  further  characters  will  also  be 
depicted  from  its  ranks.  The  next  party  in  strength,  as 
represented  in  the  Reichstag  by  94  members,  is  that  of  ihe 
Ultramontanes.  Its  representative  in  these  pages,  Wind- 
thorst,  is  also  its  recognized  leader.  The  party  of  progress, 
the  Fortschritis  Partet,  to  which  belong  Loewe,  Schulze, 
and  Jacoby,  numbers  in  the  same  house  no  less  than  49 
seats.  The  party  called  sometimes  the  "German  Party," 
and  sometimes  "Free  Conservatives,"  has  31  members. 
With  it  may  be  reckoned  Prince  Hohenlohe,  and  the  IMinis- 
ters  Dr.  Falk  and  Camphausen,  and,  perhaps,  Prince 
Bismarck  himself.  Count  Harry  von  Arnim,  though  not 
now  a  deputy,  aspired  to  become  the  leader  of  the  Old 
Conserv-atives.  The  foregoing  character,  Hasselmann,  we 
have  taken  for  the  Socialistic  fractiori.  Two  groups,  or  as 
the  Germans  say,  fractions,  the  Poles  and  the  Alsa- 
tians, stand  for  special,  not  to  say,  hopeless  causes,  but  have 
no  general  political  significance.  The  former  vote,  on 
most  questions,  with  the  Ultramontanes,  and  in  parliamen- 
tary calculations  are  generally  reckoned  with  them  ;  and 
the  same  is  true  of  the  Alsatians,  who,  however,  seldom 
appear  in  their  places.     Finally  there  is  half  a  score  of 


194  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

deputies  who,  declining  to  join  any  group,  almost 
make  a  group  by  themselves.  There  is  a  sort  of  Irish 
logic,  perhaps,,  which  will  be  readily  pardoned,  in  ranging 
under  the  party  leaders  Herr  Sonnemann,  who  belongs  to 
no  party,  and  represents  no  opinion  but  his  own. 

Those  opinions  are  indeed  shared,  or  may  be  supposed 
to  be  shared,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  intelligently,  by  his 
constituents  ;  but  they  have  not  yet  formed  a  visible  party. 
They  may,  doubtless,  be  gath'ered  from  the  files  of  the 
Frankfurter  Zti/ioig,  which  Sonnemann  owns  and  edits. 
Or,  if  more  formal  expositions  are  desired,  the  student 
would  be  forced  to  read  the  innumerable  pamphlets  which 
Sonnemann  has  written  and  published,  as  well  as  the  copi- 
ous speeches  that  he  has  made  in  the  Reichstag,  in  popular 
meetings,  and  elsewhere.  Neither  reticence  nor  indolence 
is  one  of  this  deputy's  faults.  It  is  a  lucky,  or  an  un- 
lucky, session  of  the  Reichstag  which  passes  without  a 
speech  from  him.  As  a  member  of  the  municipal  councils 
of  his  city,  Frankfort  on  the  Main,  as  well  as  of  many 
unions,  and  leagues,  and  associations,  he  has  ample 
opportunities  for  his  eloquence,  even  when  the  Reichs- 
tag is  not  sitting.  But  his  great  organ  of  commu- 
nication with  the  public,  is  his  newspaper,  the  Frank/iirler 
Zeitung. 

Leopold  Sonnemann  was  born  on  the  29th  of  October, 
1 83 1,  at  Hochberg,  in  Lower  Franconia,  Bavaria.  His 
parents  were  Hebrews.  He  studied  at  a  commercial 
school,  and  then  pursued  a  course  of  private  instruction, 
after  which  he  became  a  merchant.  In  1856,  he  purchased 
the  Neue  Frankfurter  Zeitung^  which  he  converted  into  the 
Frankfurter  Zeitung,  and  has  since  personally  conducted. 


IIERR   SOXXEMANN.  I95 

It  is  now,  in  respect  to  circulation  and  influence,  one  of 
the  most  important  journals  in  South  Germany.  It  is  well 
written,  its  correspondence  is  full  and  authentic,  and  al- 
though it  is  so  peculiarly  the  personal  organ  of  Herr 
Sonnemann,  it  is  thoroughly  independent,  and  enjoys  the 
respect  even  of  those  who  do  not  agree  with  its  opinions. 
Although  it  is  a  great  success,  in  a  journalistic  sense,  it 
would  appear  that  to  Herr  Sonnemann  it  was  chiefly 
valuable  as  a  vehicle  for  his  peculiar  theories.  He,  him- 
self, pays  more  particular  attention  to  social  and  economical 
questions.  But,  during  the  sessions  (j^\h.Q  Retchsfag,  when 
he  is  at  Berlin,  he  sends  regular  political  correspondence 
and  leading  articles. 

Herr  Sonnemann  is  classed  by  the  government  journals  as 
a  Social-democrat,  but  the  Frankfurter  Zeiiung  is  wholly 
different  from  the  Volkssiaat,  for  instance,  or  the  organ  of 
Herr  Hasselmann's  revolutionary  agitation.  The  Volkssiaat 
or  the  Ncuer  Social  Democrat  is  what  a  German  with  a 
slight  sense  of  humor  might  call  a  Fachblatt,  It  has  a 
specialty.  Its  object  is  the  reform  and  regeneration  of 
society,  and  it  pays  general  politics  only  a  general  attention. 
Not  so,  the  Radical  journal  at  Frankfort  on  the  INIain,  With 
it,  the  case  is  almost  reversed.  It  is  Radical  in  a  general 
way,  but  political  in  the  most  detailed  and  especial  sense 
of  the  word.  The  'original  Socialists  like  Hasselmann, 
look  on  political  machinery  as  a  clumsy  evil,  which  circum- 
stances force  them  to  use  for  the  propagation,  if  not  for  the 
realization  of  their  more  imposing  theories.  Sonnemann, 
on  the  contrar}',  respects  the  principle  of  civil  government, 
and  makes  social  reform,  and  political  reform  mutually 
serviceable  the  one  to  the  other. 


196  BRIEF   BIOGRAPPIIES. 

The  latter,  for  instance,  was  no  enemy  of  the  principle 
of  German  unity,  and.  hardly  of  the  imperial  form,  which 
that  unity  took.  But  he  had  strong  views  on  the  details  of 
imperial  organization.  A  member  of  the  constituent 
Reichstag,  he  took  an  active  part  in  the  debates  on  the  con- 
stitution ;  and,  after  nearly  all  his  amendments  had  been 
rejected,  he  voted  against  the  new  charter,  as  finally 
adopted  by  the  House.  On  many  collateral  questions, 
too,  he  opposed  the  government.  He  was  one  of  the  little 
band  which  resisted  the  forcible  annexation  of  Alsace-Lor- 
raine, and  which,  by  its  energetic  but  fruitless  defense  of 
the  right  of  these  provinces  themselves  to  be  consulted, 
showed  the  recreant  Liberalism  of  the  majority.  A  free 
thinker  and  a  hater  of  the  Catholic  priesthood,  he  neverthe- 
less opposed  on  abstract  grounds  most  of  the  imperial  leg- 
islation in  the  CuUiirkampf.  Thus  he  voted  against  the 
act  for  the  expulsion  of  the  Jesuits  and  affiliated  societies  ; 
and  also  against  the  act  to  j)unish  certain  pulpit  offenses. 
Such  measures  he  regarded  as  intrusions  on  personal  rights, 
and  as  committing  the  new  empire  to  the  old  reactionary 
doctrines  on  the  press  and  the  platform.  In  company  with 
his  friends  he  proposed,  as  is  said  above,  a  number  of  radical 
motions.  They  were,  for  instance,  for  the  re-introduction 
of  the  German  fundamental  laws  of  1849;  for  the  total 
abolition  of  the  salt  tax  ;  for  the  separation  of  the  Church 
from  the  State,  and  the  schools  from  the  Church.  These 
were  all  promptly  and  unceremoniously  rejected  by  the 
House.  That  he  is  not  an  irreconcilable,  however,  is 
shown  by  his  course  on  the  mint  and  currency  bill,  which 
he  actively  supported,  in  the  main,  according  to  the  views  or 
the  government. 


IIERR    SONNEMANN.,  I97 

In  appearance  Herr  Sonnemann  looks  anything  but  the 
Radical  agitator.  A  large,  portly  man,  with  whiskers  like 
Lord  Dundreary,  he  dresses  with  a  neatness  and  elegance 
quite  un-Teutonic ;  and,  on  promenade,  might  pass  for  a 
gentleman  of  the  world,  and  of  leisure.  His  whiskers  and 
his  toilet  are  fine  subjects  for  those  brilliant  Conservative 
caricaturists,  who  do  not  conceive  that  a  man  may  be  a 
gentleman  in  society,  and  yet  a  Radical  in  politics.  But  he 
is  not  a  fop  in  Parliament,  nor  a  dikltanie  in  debate.  He 
is  not  popular  among  his  colleagues,  for  every  man's  hand 
is  commonly  against  one  who  is  thoroughly  isolated  in  his 
views  ;  and  when  he  is  speaking,  smiles  and  sneers,  and 
even  stronger  signs  of  dislike,  are  abundant.  But  these  do 
not  intimidate  him.  Although  he  sits  in  a  remote  corner 
of  the  hall,  whither  the  majority  has  banished  Socialists  and 
other  outcasts,  he  easily  asserts  his  rights  and  defends  his 
opinions.  His  strong  masculine  voice  fills  the  large  hall, 
and  in  spite  of  grave  acoustical  defects,  reaches  the  most 
remote  galleries.  His  sentences  are  terse  and  incisive,  his 
en'mciation  clear,,  and  his  general  delivery  forcible  and 
impressive.  It  must  be  said,  however,  that  his  manner  is 
noc  conciliatory  ;  it  often  encourages,  not  to  say  justifies, 
the  aversion  of  the  House.  He  has  a  habit  of  hissing  his 
words  contemptuously  out  between  his  teeth.  It  may  be 
imagined  that  the  impression  of  superciliousness,  thereby 
created,  does  not  conciliate  the  favor  of  a  House,  never 
patient  with  the  Social  democracy,  or  with  any  form  of  ad- 
vanced Radicalism. 

Outside  of  Parliament  Sonnemann  has  long  been  an 
aciive  and  effective  agitator.  Within  the  Umits  of  German 
law  and  police  regulations,  perhaps  no  living  reformer  has 


198  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

attended  more  congresses  and  other  meetings,  made  a 
greater  number  of  popular  harangues,  and  in  general  con- 
ducted a  more  persistent  campaign  in  favor  of  his  own 
ideas.  He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  "People's 
Fxonomic  Congress,"  which  met  every  year  to  discuss  in  a 
popular  way  the  leading  questions  of  production,  trade, 
commerce,  etc.,  and  he  held  for  many  years  the  position 
of  President  of  the  Section  on  Banking.  In  1862,  he  was 
also  one  of  the  organizers  of  the  "  League  of  German 
Workingmen's  Unions,"  which  lasted  till  1869.  He  took 
an  active  part  in  the  agitation  for  a  treaty  of  commerce  with 
France,  and  for  tariff  reform  in  general.  In  the  inter- 
est of  this  movement,  he  made  a  tour  of  Germany  and  ap- 
peared in  numerous  congresses,  conventions,  and  meetings. 
Since  he  has  been  a  member  of  the  municipal  council  he 
has  occupied  himself  more  particularly  with  questions  of 
taxation  and  finance,  and  his  authority  is  willingly  con- 
ceded, even  by  his  political  enemies.  His  efforts  have 
been  intelligently  directed  to  lessening  the  burdens  of  the 
poorer.  ]\Iany  of  the  charitable  and  benevolent  institu- 
tions of  Frankfort  owe  themselves  to  his  initiative.  I  may 
mention,  for  instance,  the  "Mechanics'  Fund,"  "The 
Sustenance  and  Relief  Union,"  "The  Building  and  Sav- 
ings' Union,"  and  others.  He  has  been  active  in  promot- 
ing all  public  improvements,  especially  such  as  are  of  a 
popular  character.  Such  are  the  Palm  Garden  at  Frank- 
fort, and  the  new  Opera  House.  Above  all  must  be  men- 
tioned the  "  Frankfort  Union  for  Relief  and  Succor  upon 
the  Battle  Field,"  which  was  so  efficient  during  the  French 
war.  It  raised  two  hundred  thousand  florins,  which  were 
personally  disbursed  on  the  field  by  Sonnemann  and  the 
other  directors. 


IIERR   SONNEMANN.  I99 

Any  one  who  knows  the  immerfse  importance  granted 
to,  and  the  immense  influence  exercised  by  trades  unions 
and  workingmen's  clubs  in  Germany,  will  be  able  to 
gather,  from  the  above  account  of  Herr  Sonnemann's  con- 
nections some  idea  of  his  authority  with  the  poor  indus- 
trial classes  of  the  community.  It  will  be  seen  that  he 
occupies  a  position,  in  many  respects,  midway  between 
Schulze-Delitzsch  and  the  Socialists,  Hasselmann,  Lieb- 
knecht,  and  others.  He  does  not,  like  the  former,  confine 
himself  to  the  useful  but  prosaic  maxims  of  Dr.  Franklin. 
He  does  not,  like  the  latter,  poison  the  workingmen  with 
subversive  theories,  at  the  cost  of  their  more  substantial 
interests.  The  reforms  which  he  has  carried  through  seem 
to  comprise  both  a  system  of  political  instruction  and  a 
system  of  popular  economy.  Prodigality  was,  indeed, 
never  a  vice  of  German  workingmen.  Only  their  economy 
lacked  method,  and  they  had  never  learned  the  secret  of 
lawful  combination  for  the  lawful  and  peaceful  exercise  of 
all  their  resources  in  their  own  cause.  Schulze  first  taught 
them  a  salutary  system  on  a  national  scale,  but  their  bene- 
factor and  champion,  in  Frankfort,  is  Herr  Sonnemann. 

It  must  be  said,  however,  that  Herr  Sonnemann's  influ- 
ence is  chiefly  local.  He  is  a  Jew,  and  the  City  of  Frank- 
fort on  the  Main  has  a  larger  ratio  of  Jews  than  any  other 
in  Germany.  The  traveler  who  spends  a  day  there,  and 
reads  his  Baedeker  or  Murray,  will  learn  that,  in  the  middle 
ages,  the  Hebrews  were  assigned  to  certain  limits  outside  of 
the  walls,  beyond  which  they  were  forbidden  to  trespass  ; 
and  the  guide,  if  one  be  taken,  will  point  out  the  forced 
retreat  of  the  heretics.  That  state  of  things  has,  however, 
long  passed  away.     The  Jews  have  not  only  fought  their 


200  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

own  way  to  all  the  privileges  of  the  city,  but  they  have 
practically  become  masters  of  their  former  oppressors. 
Not  only  do  they  control  the  commerce,  the  banking,  the 
finance  of  Frankfort,  but  the  conduct  of  municipal  affairs, 
and  the  expression  of  the  city's  voice  in  national  politics, 
is  also,  in  a  great  measure,  in  their  hands.  These  facts 
alone,  however,  do  not  explain  Sonnejnann's  position. 
The  Jews  who  control  the  trade  and  banking  and  the 
municipal  affairs,  are  capitalists,  and  capital  in  Frankfort, 
as  elsewhere,  is  conservative.  But  the  fi/st  virtue  of  the 
Jews  is  prudence.  The  city  contains,  also,  a  large  and 
turbulent  Radical  and  Democratic  element,  and  the  only 
way  to  hold  this  in  check  is  to  aid  it  in  electing  the  least 
objectionable  of  its  favorites.  Herr  Sonnemann  holds 
sound  views  on  financial  questions  ;  a  man  of  means,  he 
also  has  material  interests  at  stake,  and  the  control  of  a 
powerful  journal  makes  him  a  grand  local  dignitary.  The 
policy  may  not  proceed  from  very  lofty  political  convictions, 
but  it  saves  the  old  free  city  from  a  Hasselmann  or  a  Bebel. 


PART    VI. 

The  Scholar  in  Politics. 


XIV. 


Professor  Gneist. 


IROFESSOR  GNEIST  is  a  person  of  whom  it  is 
the  fashion  to  speak  with  respect,  if  not  with  affec- 
tion. One  of  the  most  concrete  individuals  in 
German  pubHc  life,  he  nevertheless  exists  for  the  mass  of 
the  people  as  some  shadowy  but  mighty  abstraction,  a 
power  which  is  known  to  be,  but  is  seldom  felt.  What  the 
Hindoo  said  of  his  idol,  may  be  said  of  Dr.  Gneist  :  "We 
feel  that  he  is  ugly,  but  we  know  that  he  is  great."  He  has 
one  of  those  peculiar  faces  which  do  not  frighten  children 
or  attract  adults  ;  for  it  is  perfectly  neutral  in  expression, 
and  suggests  all  mental  qualities,  chiefly  because  it  reveals 
none.  It  has  been  cleverly  said  of  some  American  lawyer, 
that  he  is  much  esteemed  in  England  on  account  of  his 
supposed  reputation  in  America,  and  much  esteemed  in 
America  on  account  of  his  supposed  reputation  in  England. 
Dr.  Gneist's  fame  is  of  this  indirect  and  intangible  nature. 
Schultze  respects  him,  because  Miiller  has  read  his  book  on 
"Juries;"  and  IMiiller  admires  him,   on  the    strength  of 


204  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

Schultze's  opinion  of  "English  Public  Law."  He  is  an 
aggregate  power  which  cannot  be  analyzed.  He  is  an  in- 
tellectual potentate  ;  but,  while  the  fact  of  his  sway  is  always 
present  and  undisputed,  it  is  impossible  to  discover  the 
details  on  which  it  rests. 

It  cannot,  indeed,  be  said  that  his  opportunities  of  in- 
fluence and  power  are  few  or  unsubstantial.  He  has 
sounded  almost  all  the  depths  and  shoals  of  honor  in  these 
great  branches  of  the  public  service.  He  has  ascended  the 
judicial  ladder,  as  far  as  the  Ober-Tribunal ;  the  academic 
ladder,  as  far  as  a  university  rectorship  ;  and  the  parliamen- 
taiy  ladder,  to  the  Reichstag.  More  recently,  he  has  become 
president  of  the  highest  disciplinary  court  in  the  very- 
bureaucracy  which  he  once  so  bitterly  attacked. 

Rudolph  Gneist,  doctor  of  laws,  regular  professor  in  the 
faculty  of  jurisprudence  at  the  University  of  Berlin,  was 
born  on  the  13th  of  August,  1816.  After  the  usual  course 
of  study  at  the  g}'mnasium  and  university,  he  adopted  the 
profession  of  law,  and,  in  1833,  became  Auscidtaior.  In 
1 84 1,  he  was  Assessor  before  the  Superior  Court  or 
"Chamber,"  and  1846,  assistant  judge  in  the  Supreme 
Tribunal.  This  post,  and  with  it  the  judicial  career,  he 
abandoned  in  1850,  in  part  from  a  preference  for  academi- 
cal work,  in  part  for  political  reasons.  '  Already,  in 
1839,  he  was  a  privat-docent  \n  law  ;  in  1844,  professor  ;  in 
1872-74,  rector  an(j  pro-rector.  His  parliamentary  career 
may  be  said  to  have  begun  in  1848,  with  a  seat  in  the 
Municipal  Council,  which  he  still  retains.  From  1858  to 
the  present  time,  he  has  been  a  member  of  the  Prussian 
Lower  House  ;  in  the  Imperial  Parliament  he  has  sat  from 
the  first.      Of  unofficial   positions  which  he  holds  or  has 


PROFESSOR   GNEIST.  205 

held,  may  be  mentioned  the  Chairmanship  of  the  German 
Jurists'  Association  (1869)  ;  he  has  been  President  of  the 
Union  for  Social  Science  at  Eisenach  (1872)  ;  President 
of  the  Central  Union  for  the  Working  Classes;  Chairman 
of  the  Scientific  Union,  of  the  Singing  Academy,  etc.,  etc. 
In  the  House  of  Deputies  (Prussian)  he  sits  for  a  district 
in  the  province  of  Saxony  ;  in  the  Reichstag  he  is  elected 
from  the  district  of  Landeshut.  In  his  earlier  days  he 
belonged  to  the  so-called  "  Fraction  Vincke  ;"  later  he  was 
leader  of  the  Left  Centre,  and,  at  present,  is  classed  with  the 
National  Liberals. 

The  participation  of  Gneist  in  the  Liberal  movements  of 
1848,  was  active  and  resolute.  So  prominent  was  he,  that 
he  won  the  disfavor  of  the  government ;  and  many  petty 
and  some  serious  obstacles  were  put  in  the  way  of  his  pro- 
fessional progress.  In  the  sketch  of  Jacoby,  there  is  some 
account  of  the  royal  plan  to  adjourn  the  National  Assembly 
to  Brandenburg,  Dr.  Gneist  was  not  then  in  Parliament, 
but  he  took  part  in  a  vigorous  and  novel  extra-parliamen- 
tary protest  against  the  plan.  The  Prince  of  Prussia,  at 
that  time  heir  apparent,  now  the  reigning  king,  was  sup- 
posed to  have  great  influence  with  his  brother.  He  was  a 
stringent  defender  of  prerogative  ;  a  bold,  stern,  and  fear- 
less soldier,  and  an  object  of  intense  popular  aversion. 
When  the  extraordinary  purpose  of  the  king  was  made 
known,  people  at  once  recognized  the  hand  of  Prince 
William.  A  deputation  was  accordingly  appointed  to  wait 
upon  him.  Dr.  Gneist  was  its  leader  and  spokesman. 
He  made,  or  began,  a  long  address  upon  the  subject  of  his 
mission,  when  the  prince  interrupted  him,  and  declared 
that  the  speech  had  not  convinced   him   that  the  king  was 


2o6  BRIEF   BIOGRAnilES. 

wrong  in  his  treatment  of  the  National  Assembly.  It  is 
said  that  he  threw  his  sword  upon  the  table,  like  Gallus  in 
the  Roman  legend,  and  said,  that  if  he  were  king,  he 
would  write  his  throne-speeches  with  that. 

In  obedience  to  the  same  principles.  Dr.  Gneist  under- 
took the  defence  of  those  accused  of  participation  in  the 
outbreak  of  March,  1848.  One  remark  that  he  made  at 
the  time  has  become  famous.  The  attorney  for  the  gov- 
ernment had  mentioned  that  many  of  those  who  fell  in  the 
movement  were  released  or  escaped  criminals,  and  that  the 
death  of  such  was  no  loss  to  society.  Gneist  replied  : 
"  Such  a  death  restored  them  their  honor."  A  year  later, 
in  1849,  to  defend  the  jury  system  against  the  attacks  which 
its  great  services  for  freedom  of  speech  and  press  were 
bringing  upon  it,  he  published  his  treatise,  to  which  refer- 
ence has  been  made  above.  The  so-called  Juristenlag, 
or  annual  convention  of  jurists,  was  not  liked  by  the  gov- 
ernment. It  was  generally  attended  by  great  numbers  of 
Liberal  lawyers  and  professors,  and  by  judges,  and  upon 
these  latter  an  inhibition  was  placed.  They  were  forbid- 
den to  take  part  in  the  proceedings.  Soon  after  the  pro- 
mulgation of  this  order.  Dr.  Gneist  retired  from  the  bench. 

Professor  Gneist  is  a  popular  holiday  speaker,  and  the 
frequent  demands  upon  him  have,  perhaps,  contributed  to 
give  him  an  oracular,  not  to  say  bombastic,  style  of  speech. 
Funeral  orations,  dedicatory  orations,  toast  responses, 
these  are  not  supposed  to  exact  too  much  thought  from 
the  performer,  and,  in  a  man  of  Dr.  Gneist's  reputation, 
they  encourage  even  more  vicious  tendencies.  An  example 
of  this  will  be  found  in  a  speech  made  by  him  on  taking 
the  chair  at   a   public  meeting  in  Berlin.     An    English 


TROFESSOR   GNEIST.  207 

meeting  had  voted  sympathy  with  the  ecclesiastical  policy 
of  Prince  Bismarck,  and  the  citizens  of  the  Prussian  capital 
met  to  return  thanks.  Dr.  Gneist  began  by  saying  that  a 
"most  respectable  assembly,  such  as  the  beautiful  festival 
halls  of  the  capital  have  seldom  seen,  holds  it  to  be  a  duty 
to  make  a  grateful  answer  to  the  recent  warm  expression  of 
English  sympathy  for  the  German  Emperor  and  the  Ger- 
man People.  A  sim.ilar  pulsation  went  through  both 
nations  long  before  the  days  of  Waterloo  ;  it  is  a  deep  feel- 
ing for  freedom  of  conscience  and  freedom  of  thought,  a 
feeling  which  is  not  able  to  separate  science  and  conscience. 
We  may  accept  the  expression  of  this  sympathy  in  the  con- 
sciousness that  the  German  Emperor  and  the  German  Peo- 
ple, in  the  present  conflict,  have  deserved  it.  No  nation 
of  the  earth  has  endured  so  much,  in  hard,  prolonged 
struggles  for  freedom  of  conscience  as  the  German,  until 
she  reached  the  conclusion  that,  for  the  two  great  Churches 
there  must  be  room  enough  on  God's  earth." 

This  was  what  is  called  a  gala  occasion,  and  Professor 
Gneist  would  naturally  try,  in  his  effort,  to  justify  his  choice 
for  the  honor  of  president.  Yet  there  are  in  this  very 
opening  two  grave  errors,  one  of  inference  or  suggestion, 
and  one  of  fact.  It  is  an  error  to  assume  that  the  pend- 
ing struggle  of  the  State  in  Germany  against  the  Catholic 
Church  is  a  struggle  for  "  freedom  of  conscience."  It  is  a 
second  and  far  graver  error  to  say  that  Germany  has  suf- 
fered more  for  freedom  of  conscience  than  any  other,  or,  to 
use  his  own  language,  than  "  any  "  nation.  It  is  not  so 
easy  to  erase  from  the  pages  of  history  the  Huguenots  of 
France,  the  Hussites  of  Bohemia,  the  Puritans  of  England, 
and,  above  all,  the  immortal  patriots  and  martyrs  of  Neth- 


2o8  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

erlands.     One  does  not  of  course  expect  in  a  poi)uIcir  ha- 
rangue   the    severe    logic    of  a    written    treatise  ;  but    Dr. 
Gneist  is  a  professor  of  politicaii  science,  and  is,  moreover,  ' 
famous  for  pruning  the  periods  of  young  orators. 

It  is  but  just,  however,  to  say  that  Dr.  Gneist  has  or  had 
a  certain  force  of  epigrammatic  expression,  and  that  many 
of  his  terse  remarks  were  taken  up  by  the  people  and  have 
passed  into  history.  One,  and  perhaps  the  most  familiar, 
concerned  the  bureaucracy  of  Prussia.  When  somebody 
remarked  in  his  presence  that  the  March  Revolution  of 
1848,  was  a  failure  because  it  stopped  short  of  the  throne, 
Professor  Gneist  replied  :  "  No  !  It  was  a  failure  because 
it  left  the  old  Prussian  bureaucracy  untouched."  In  fact 
it  did  not  leave  the  bureaucracy  quite  intact.  The  system 
has  undergone  no  insignificant  modifications  within  thirty 
years,  and  of  all  these,  the  events  of  1848  were  the  historic 
condition,  if  not  the  cause.  But  the  remark  of  Dr.  Gneist 
nevertheless  hinted  at  the  real  tyrant  in  the  original  Prus- 
sian system  ;  and  gave  pointed  expression  to  the  hatred 
with  which  the  people  then  regarded  the  oligarchy  of  clerks 
and  copyists.  No  man  knew  that  system  better  than  he. 
Not  only  had  he  studied  it  profoundly,  and  from  all  sides — 
practical,  political,  social  ;  but  he  had  also  studied  with 
equal  care  a  system  quite  the  reverse, — that  of  England. 
His  book  on  the  administrative  system  of  England,  which 
was  both  analytical  and  historical,  has  many  faults  which 
critics  have  not  spared.  It  has  been  said  that  the  execu- 
tion of  the  work  does  not  quite  correspond  to  the  con- 
fidence and  authority  of  the  author.  It  was  not  only 
easy,  but  for  a  German  almost  necessary,  that  in  collecting 
great  masses  of  useless  erudition  he  should  often  miss  the 


PROFESSOR   GNEIST.  209 

essential  point,  the  interpreting  idea,  the  logical  secret, 
without  which  there  is  no  progress  ;  and  thus,  while  this 
great  work  is  of  value  as  a  formal  sketch  of  the  English 
administrative  system,  it  adds  but  little  to  that  knowledge, 
so  imperfect  in  foreigners,  of  the  philosophy  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  institutions. 

A  year  since  there  was  a  report  that  Dr.  Gneist  would 
visit  America,  and  subject  the  American  system  to  similar 
treatment.  Whether  the  report  was  false — whether  it  was 
true  at  the  time,  and  the  plan  has  since  been  abandoned 
— or  whether  the  journey  will  eventually  be  made  and  the 
book  written,  is  not  yet  clear.  But  if  the  eminent  jurist 
should  honor  us  with  his  visit,  and  our  government  with 
his  researches,  the  result  would  be  an  exhaustive  collection 
of  facts,  and  the  enunciation  of  many  principles,  which, 
as  the  fruit  of  a  few  months'  residence,  would  be  very  edify- 
ing to  American  schools. 

There  are  other  phrases  by  Dr.  Gneist,  but  little  less 
famous.  One  of  these  was  his  glowing  "appeal  from  the 
government  to  the  conscience  of  the  State,"  from  the 
organized  and  contemptuous  ministerial  persecution  of  lib- 
eral men  and  measures,  to  the  higher  reason  of  an  edu- 
cated and  conscientious  commonwealth.  On  another  oc- 
casion, he  publicly  branded  the  policy  of  Bismarck  with  the 
stigma  of  Cain.  It  was  during  the  struggle  of  the  Land- 
tags or  the  Lower  House  of  the  Landlag,  against  the  uncon- 
stitutional course  of  king  and  ministers.  Dr.  Menzel  de- 
scribes the  incident.  A  proposition  was  made  by  the  deputy 
von  Bonin  to  smooth  the  way  to  a  compromise;  but,  since 
it  recognized  the  organization  of  the  army,  demanded  only  a 
slight  reduction  in  its  strength,  and  above  all  settled  the 
12* 


2IO  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

Landwehr  question  in  a  sense  contrary  to  that  of  the 
majority,  while  the  war  minister  himself  spoke  of  it  only  with 
reserve,  the  House  rejected  it.  The  member  who  reported 
the  measure  from  the  committee  back  to  the  House,  Dr. 
Gneist,  closed  his  speech  on  the  5th  of  INIay,  in  the 
following  words  :  "  The  minister  of  war  is  not  only  a 
political,  he  is  also  a  religious  man  ;  and  for  that  reason,  he 
will  believe  me,  that  the  re-organization,  with  Cain's  mark  of 
perjury  on  its  forehead,  will  be  no  permanent  institution  of 
the  country,  as  long  as  there  be  such  a  thing  as  divine 
justice."  The  minister,  Count  von  Roon,  answered  : 
"When  the  reporter  permitted  himself  to  attack  me 
personally,  in  a  way  unheard  of  in  Parliament,  I  was  aston- 
ished that  he  was  not  called  to  order.  But  I  must  remark  that 
the  words  of  the  speaker  carry  on  their  forehead  the  mark  of 
exaggeration  and  shamelessness."  The  President  of  the 
Chamber  interposed,  Gneist  disclaimed  the  intention  to 
insult  the  minister  personally,  and  von  Roon  withdrew  his 
observations.  The  mot  of  Gneist  nevertheless  went  through 
the  land.  So  cleverly  and  forcibly  did  it  press  the  popular 
feeling  toward  the  army  bill,  that  no  one  stopped  to  analyze 
it,  and  inquire  whether  the  "  brand  of  Cain  "  was  that  of 
perjury,  and  whether  a  military  re-organization  could  have  a 
"forehead."  Indeed  the  two  infuriated  speakers  seem  to 
have  carried  on  a  battle  of  bad  rhetoric  as  well  as  of  ugly  in- 
sinuations ;  and  though  the  war  minister  won  the  case  by 
boldly  giving  a  ' '  forehead  "  to  Gneist's  words,  the  credit  of  in- 
troducing that  striking  figure  must  be  given  to  his  opponent. 
The  last  occasion  on  which  I  had  the  honor  of  hearing 
Dr.  Gneist  in  public,  was  at  the  dedication  of  the  monu- 
ment to  the  memory  of  Stein,  at  Berlin,    The  orator  stands 


PROFESSOR   GNEIST.  211 

only  in  an  intellectual  relation  to  the  great  reformer. 
Stein's  biography,  a  monument  of  literary  labor,  was  com- 
posed by  other  hands.  But  of  all  modern  Prussian  states- 
men, Dr.  Gneist  is  perhaps  the  leading  representative,  as 
well  in  practical  politics  as  in  political  speculation,  of  that 
great  man's  ideas,  and  achievements.  No  two  persons  could 
differ  more  than  Stein  and  his  eulogist.  The  former  was 
a  man  of  genius,  the  latter  is  only  a  man  of  robust  under- 
standing. The  former  deduced  schemes  of  reform  from  a 
profound  study  of  the  evils  of  existing  society ;  the  latter 
is  only  a  man  of  expedients,  learned  from  the  observation 
of  other  societies.  The  one  was  bold,  original,  showy, 
brilliant.  The  other  is  prosaic,  heavy,  and  commonplace. 
Stein  had  a  quickness  of  perception  and  a  fertility  of  re- 
source, which  swept  away  the  dull  courtiers  who  came  in 
his  path.  Dr.  Gneist  is  a  doctrinaire,  who  ennobles  obvious 
truths  by  an  artificial  gravity  of  manner.  In  spite  of  all 
these  differences  between  the  two.  Dr.  Gneist  was  still  the 
best  fitted  to  do  justice  to  the  character  of  Stein's  work,  if 
not  of  Stein  himself;  and  some  passages  from  his  eulogy 
will  give  an  idea  of  this  gentleman  at  his  best. 

The  translation  is  that  of  the  correspondent  of  the 
London  Times  : 

"  The  likeness  of  our  great  statesman  gravely  looks  clown  upon 
the  spot  once  trodden  by  him.  What  a  contrast  between  these 
modern  days  and  that  stormy  October,  1807,  in  which  Baron  von 
Stein  was  recalled  to  office  to  direct  the  affairs  of  this  monarchy  ! 
Prematurely  aged,  enfeebled,  and  torn,  the  kingdom  of  Frederick 
the  Great  lay  at  the  feet  of  a  haughty  conqueror,  when  Stein  con- 
ceived the  idea  of  regenerating  it  by  emancipating  the  people. 
There  was  little  courage  and  less  energy  left,  when  Stein  uttered 
these  weighty  words — 'To  lift  up  a  people  it  is  necessary  to  give  liberty. 


212  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

independence,  and  property  to  its  oppressed  classes,  and  cctend 
the  protection  of  the  law  to  all  alike.  Let  us  emancipate  the  peas- 
ant, for  free  labor  alone  sustains  a  nation  eflectually.  Restore  to 
the  peasant  the  possession  of  the  land  he  tills,  for  the  independent 
proprietor  alone  is  brave  in  defending  hearth  and  home.  Free  the 
citizen  from  monopoly  and  the  tutelage  of  the  bureaucracy,  for 
freedom  in  workshop  and  town-hall  has  given  to  the  ancient  burgh- 
er of  Germany  the  proud  position  he  held.  Teach  the  land-owning 
nobles  that  the  legitimate  rank  of  the  aristocracy  can  be  maintained 
only  by  disinterested  service  in  county  and  state,  but  is  undermined 
by  exemption  from  taxes  and  other  unwarrantable  privileges.  If 
the  political  functions  formerly  held  by  the  Estates  of  the  Realm  are 
now  vested  in  the  bureaucracy,  and  the  latter  order  has  thus  become 
one  of  the  most  important  in  the  kingdom,  it  is  all  the  more  neces- 
saiy  to  free  it  from  its  inherent  defects.  Instead  of  confining  itself 
to  pedantic  book  knowledge,  and  esteeming  red  tape  and  salary 
above  everything  else,  the  bureaucracy  should  study  the  people,  live 
with  the  people,  and  adapt  its  measures  to  the  living  realities  of  the 
times.'  Thus  thought  the  Baron  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire, 
thus  acted  the  Prussian  Minister  of  State.  No  German  statesman 
has  ever  so  thoroughly  relied  upon  the  action  of  a  free  and  united 
people  as  Stein  ;  no  one  was  more  keenly  alive  to  the  beneficial 
effect  of  freedom  in  the  innermost  recesses  of  home,  in  the  work  of 
the  State,  and  in  the  creed  of  the  Church.  He  regarded  monarchy 
as  a  means  of  educating  and  elevating  a  nation,  of  increasing  and 
developing  every  noble  and  manly  feature  of  their  character.  He 
vindicated  religion  as  the  only  true  basis  of  moral  life,  and  he  looked 
upon  an  army  raised  by  universal  subscription  as  a  school  in  which 
honor,  discipline,  and  love  of  country  were  to  be  inculcated 
and  practically  applied.  'Elevate,  unite,  and  combine,'  he  said, 
'  the  various  classes  of  this  regeneiated  people.  Accustom  the  na- 
tion to  devote  themselves  with  all  their  heart  to  public  affairs,  and 
believe  that  sensual  pleasures,  idleness,  and  the  love  of  gain  and 
riches  can  never  be  effectually  counteracted,  except  by  patriotism 
and  the  love  of  one's  neighbor.  Constitutional  forms  are  a  matter 
of  comparative   indifference   as  long  as   liberty  exists.     To  elect 


PROFESSOR   GNEIST.  21  3 

public  oITicers  is  one  method  of  dealing  with  public  affairs.  Not 
the  election,  however,  but  daily  participation  in  the  affairs  of  the 
State  is  the  principal  thing.  Upon  this  daily  participation  the  new 
constitution  of  Germany  must  be  based.'  The  man  to  whom  we  are 
indebted  for  these  teachings  was  not  a  man  of  words,  but  of  deeds — 
deeds  founded  upon  a  character  full  of  patriotism,  energy,  truth,  and 
faith.  Deeply  imbued  with  the  fear  of  God,  and  therefore  free  from 
all  fear  of  man,  aiming  at  great  objects,  and  never  hesitating  to  pur- 
sue them  in  the  teeth  of  all  difficulties,  he  frequently  contented 
himself  with  laying  down  principles,  leaving  their  execution  and  the 
cautious  choice  of  ways  and  means  to  others.  Full  of  noble  indig- 
nation against  fear  and  ditiidence,  selfishness  and  false  appearances  ; 
haughty,  abrupt  and  imperious,  where  these  qualities  were  required  ; 
he  boldly  warred  against  prejudice  and  obsolete  customs.  It  was  a 
merciful  provision  of  Providence  that  this  noble  Stein,  this  precious 
stone  and  gem  of  our  unity,  was  a  rough  diamond,  preserving  in  his 
character  the  rigor  and  vigor  indispensable  in  the  reformer.  If 
the  political  institutions  created  by  him  have  been  successful,  this  is 
chiefly  owing  to  the  indomitable  force  of  his  convictions,  which,  re- 
flected in  the  laws  enacted  by  him,  within  a  couple  of  years  infused 
a  fresh  vitality  into  the  national  mind.  When  the  hour  of  liberty 
struck.  Stein  banished  the  foreigner,  became  the  herald  of  war,  the 
admonisher  of  the  council,  and  by  his  fiery  enthusiasm  incited  his 
wrathful  countrj'men  to  pursue  the  conqueror  from  the  borders  of 
Siberia  to  the  River  Seine.  He  experienced  a  triumph  worth  living 
for.  He,  too,  stayed  long  enough  in  our  midst  to  witness  that 
doubtful  period  in  which  the  various  classes  of  the  reconstituted 
nation,  amid  sundry  changes  and  agitations,  tried  to  shake  down  in- 
to their  new  places.  He  departed  when  the  struggle  was  waxing 
warm,  and  when  the  ideas  sown  by  him  for  the  identification  of  peo- 
ple and  State  began  to  penetrate  the  crust  of  prejudice  and  error 
which  had  so  long  hidden  and  choked  their  growth.  Pnissia,  to 
whom  he  devoted  a  life's  labors,  has  at  last  fulfilled  the  wishes  of 
Stein  and  the  hopes  of  the  nation  by  restoring  unity  and  solidity  to 
Germany.  It  having  been  our  happy  lot  to  realize  what  he  died 
too  early  to  witness,  this  solemn  day  intimately  connects  us  with 


214  BRIEF   BIOGRAriTIES. 

him.  In  this  inaugural  hour,  we  need  not  recount  the  tale  of  his 
life  ;  it  is  part  and  parcel  of  German  history.  Nor  need  we  rejoice 
at  having  a  monument  to  remind  us  of  the  departed  statesman  ;  all 
the  institutions  of  modern  Germany  bear  the  impress  of  his  mind. 
Neither  do  we  wish  to  boast  of  this  monument  as  a  symbol  of  glory. 
The  very  idea  of  glory  was  utterly  abhorrent  to  his  pure  soul,  to  all 
he  wrote  and  did.  Like  our  own  glorious  emperor  and  king,  the 
leading  minister  of  Frederick  William  III.  had  a  right  to  say  : — 
'We  have  not  sought,  though  we  have  found  glory  and  power  in  de- 
fending our  dearest  possessions  and  upholding  the  legitimate  claims 
of  the  nation.  Glory  and  honor  be  to  God  alone  ! '  No,  as  the  in- 
scription tells  us  in  the  most  unpretending  language,  this  is  no 
monument  of  glory,  but  of  gratitude  ;  no  monumentof  victory,  but  of 
thankfulness.  This  debt  of  gratitude  has  been  long  delayed.  It  is 
now  many  years  since  the  talented  sculptor  of  this  statue  departed 
this  life.  For  years  we  have  been  looking  for  a  site  in  this  city, 
which,  like  the  people  to  whom  it  appertains,  has  long  been  busy  in 
fulfilling  everyday  duties  before  putting  on  holiday  costume  in 
honor  of  the  accumulated  result.  The  great  deceased  will  forgive 
our  tardy  tribute.  He  never  thought  of  his  own  Lionument,  but  on- 
ly of  the  Monumenta  GermanicE* 

"  We  thank  God  that  after  many  a  hard  struggle,  the  successor  of 
Stein's  sovereign,  the  German  Emperor  and  King,  through  the 
illustrious  heir  of  the  German  Empire,  does  honor  to  the  memory 
of  Baron  von  Stein.  We  are  elated  by  the  thought  that  the  statue 
we  unveiled  amid  festive  hymns  records  the  vow  that  our  sons  will 
preserve  by  labor,  faithfulness  and  obedience  what  their  fathers 
have  created  '  with  God  for  King  and  Country.'  I  trust  that  the 
Stein  Monument  will  remind  this  city  and  coming  generations  of  the 
foundation  on  which  our  history  is  built." 

Dr.  Gneist  seems  now  to  have  reached  the  age  when  a 
Struggle  against  the  government  for  abstract  principles  has 
no  more  pleasure  for  him.     During  the  late  debate  on  the 

•The  famous  collection  of  the  mediaeval  and  ancient  records  of  Germanj-  ;  .i 
work  suggested  by  Stein  and  carried  out  by  his  biographer,  Dr.  Pertz. 


PROFESSOR  GNEIST.  21  5 

amendment  to  the  Penal  Code  he  was  a  silent  listener. 
By  accepting  the  presidency  of  the  "Administrative  Court  " 
he  seems  to  have  made  his  peace  with  that  bureaucracy  which 
he  once  so  bitterly  denounced,  and  to  have  settled  back 
into  a  dignified  conservative  repose. 


XV. 


Professor  Virchow. 


ilHIS  gentleman  is  doubtless  better  known  abroad 
than  his  friend,  Dr.  Gneist,  but  not  as  a  politi- 
cian. The  author  or  discoverer  of  the  cellular 
system  of  physiology  is  now  known  wherever  medicine  is  a 
science,  and  professional  zeal  a  virtue.  It  is  equally  neces- 
sary to  make  him  known  to  men  who  care  nothing  about 
the  cellular  physiology,  but  like  to  pay  tribute  to  the  brave 
citizen,  the  unimpeachable  politician.  For  Dr.  Virchow 
is  another  one  of  those  bold  ' '  tribunes  of  the  people  "  who, 
in  their  youthful  days,  enjoyed  the  ill  will  of  princes  and 
suffered  persecution  for  their  honest  opinions.  Nay,  he  is 
a  scholar  whose  researches  were  interrupted  by  a  reaction- 
ary minister,  a  teacher  whose  labors  were  suspended  be- 
cause he  had  political  principles.  He  had  to  meet,  and  he 
met  successfully,  one  of  the  hardest  of  all  trials.  He  had 
to  purchase  an  academic  position,  and  the  opportunity  to 
pursue  the  study  of  a  profession  to  which  he  was  passion- 
ately devoted,  by  renouncing  opinions  which  no  law  for- 


PROFESSOR   VIRCIIOW.  21/ 

bade  a  Prussian  subject  to  hold,  or  else  retire  from  Berlin 
and  become  an  exile,  with  a  stigma  of  disgrace  affixed  by 
the  King  of  Prussia.  He  chose  the  latter  course,  and  en- 
riched the  annals  of  his  country  by  one  more  example  of 
conspicuous  civic  courage. 

Rudolph  Virchow  was  born  on  the  13th  of  October, 
1 82 1,  at  Schievelbein,  in  the  province  of  Pomerania, 
After  the  usual  course  at  the  nearest  gymnasium,  that  of 
Coslin,  he  began  his  university  studies  at  Berlin,  and 
graduated  with  honors.  In  1843,  he  was  appointed  assist- 
ant physician,  and  later  Prosector  in  the  Berlin  hospital 
Charlie.  His  principal  was  the  great  surgeon  and  physi- 
cian, Schonlein,  This  brilliant  practitioner,  and  equally 
brilliant  lecturer,  was  a  complete  despot  in  his  professional 
authority,  and  many  stories  have  been  told  of  his  sum- 
mary treatment  even  of  royal  patients  ;  but  to  young  Vir- 
chow he  early  took  a  great  liking.  The  patronage  of 
Schonlein  was  of  immense  advantage  to  him,  and  his 
progress  was  sufficiently  rapid  until  his  political  opinions 
began  to  attract  the  attention  of  the  government.  About 
this  time  he  became  acquainted  and  formed  also  a  profes- 
sional connection  with  Reinhardt.  Not  only  did  the  two 
friends  pursue  together  their  pathological  investigations, 
but  they  also  published  together  the  results  of  those  inves- 
tigations in  the  so-called  Archives  for  Pathological 
Anatomy  and  Physiology  —  a  medical  periodical  of  wide 
circulation.  After  Reinhardt's  death,  in  1852,  Virchow 
continued  the  publication  alone.  In  1848,  he  aided 
Leubuscher  to  found  a  new  medical  periodical.  Die 
Medizinische  Reform  —  a  periodical  in  which  the  most 
radical  professional  theories  found  expression.     In  1846. 


2l8  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

Virchow  gave  lectures  at  the  University  of  Berlin,  which 
were  so  numerously  attended,  that  he  was  made  professor 
in  1847.  The  next  year  he  was  sent,  by  the  government, 
to  Silesia,  where  a  famine,  the  so-called  Hunger  Typhus, 
was  causing  widespread  devastation.  He  was  instructed 
at  once  to  render  medical  aid  and  to  make  scientific  obser- 
vations. These  latter  he  gave  to  the  world  immediately  in 
a  pamphlet,  "Report  over  the  Upper  Silesian  Hunger 
Typhus."  In  1868,  he  published  a  farther  work,  "On 
Hunger  Typhus." 

The  year  1848  came,  and  with  it  came  decisive  events 
in  Virchow's  history.  The  weakness,  the  timidity,  the 
vacillation  of  Frederic  William  IV.,  had  so  often  deceived 
the  people  that  little  confidence  was  placed  in  his  loyalty, 
even  on  the  momentous  i8th  of  March,  when  he  came  out 
bareheaded  upon  the  balcony  of  his  palace,  to  announce  to 
the  angry  and  threatening  assemblage  that  their  legitimate 
demands  would  be  granted.  He  had  hardly  made  his 
appearance  when  two  musket  shots,  fired  by  treachery  or 
carelessness,  changed,  in  an  instant,  the  face  of  affairs. 
The  people  cried  that  they  were  betrayed  ;  the  king  fled 
into  his  palace  from  the  storm  ;  the  cry  to  arm  and  defend 
resounded  through  the  city,  and  in  two  hours  forty  barri- 
cades were  erected  in  the  streets.  These  hasty  barriers 
were  manned  not  alone,  as  the  reactionaries  pretended,  by 
workmen,  vagabonds,  and  escaped  criminals.  Behind 
them,  fought  men  of  culture,  talent,  and  promise  ;  men  who 
added  to  all  other  civic  virtues  that  of  profound  political 
convictions  ;  men  who  enjoyed  the  possession  or  the  hope 
of  honor  and  fame  in  the  learned  professions,  and  it  is  said 
that  one  of  these  was  Dr.  Rudolph  Virchow.     The  report 


PROFESSOR   VIRCIIOW.  219 

may  be  false.  But  it  is  certain  that  if  he  did  not  actually 
take  part  in  the  outbreak,  his  sympathies  were  with  the 
people  who  tried,  however  unadvisedly,  by  that  means  to 
redress  their  grievances. 

After  this  the  young  professor  seems,  at  least,  to  have 
been  a  doomed  man.  At  first,  the  government  did  not 
feel  strong  enough  openly  to  dismiss  so  brilliant  a  teacher, 
and  not  till  a  year  later,  did  the  Minister  of  Education, 
Raumer,  whose  Liberal  connections  ought  to  have  taught 
him  more  charity — not  till  Easter,  1849,  did  this  minister 
venture  to  carry  out  the  threatened  measure.  Even  after 
this  dismissal  Virchow  was  temporarily  re-instated,  doubt- 
less to  invite  a  political  recantation.  But  the  trick  failed. 
Thereupon,  he  was  again  dismissed  ;  this  time  it  was  sup- 
posed definitively,  and  he  accepted  an  invitation  to  Wiirtz- 
burg  in  the  faculty  of  medicine,  Prussia  had  banished  a 
radical  politician,  but  she  had  also  banished  one  of  the 
rising  scholars  of  the  age. 

To  Wiirtzburg  Virchow  transferred  not  only  his  political 
opinions,  but  also  his  scientific  and  professional  spirit.  He 
now  became  one  of  the  leading  members  of  a  faculty  which, 
at  that  time,  made  the  medical  department  of  the  university 
famous.  The  organs  of  this  faculty,  the  medical  society, 
and  the  published  "  Proceedings"  of  the  same,  were  well 
known  throughout  Germany,  and,  indeed,  to  medical  schol- 
ars, everywhere.  The  famous  cellular  pathology  of  Virchow 
was  suggested  by  him  at  this  time,  though  it  was  not  care- 
fully developed  and  explained  till  1859.  According  to  his 
theory,  the  essential  cause  of  the  modifications  of  the  or- 
gans, and  their  disease,  is  the  sensitiveness  or  irritableness 
of  the  cells.     The  great  work  in  which  he  defended  this 


220  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

theory  has  been  translated  into  nearly  every  civilized  lan- 
guage. In  the  United  States,  it  is  said  that  the  Federal 
Government  distributed  a  large  number  of  copies  among 
the  surgeons  and  physicians  of  the  army.  Even  without 
his  political  heresies,  it  is  probable  that  Virchow  would  have 
been  objectionable  to  a  king  who  was  such  by  divine  right, 
and  would  not  tolerate  in  his  state  the  study  of  a  godless 
Hegelianism.  For  the  great  pathologist  was  as  radical  in 
religion  as  in  medicine  and  politics.  "I  do  not  deny  the 
fact  of  spirit,"  he  once  said  or  wrote,  "  but  for  me  there  is 
only  value  in  what  I  see."  When  there  was  no  other  com- 
plaint against  him,  it  was  always  possible  to  adduce  his 
"materialism,"  and  unfortunately  the  King  of  Prussia 
and  his  minister  of  education  had  equally  strong  convic- 
tions on  the  subject. 

As  an  exile  and  a  stranger,  it  is  probable  that  Virchow 
gave  less  attention  to  politics,  while  he  was  at  Wiirtzburg. 
Not  only  was  he  withdrawn  from  the  scene  of  party  strife, 
but  even  at  home,  in  Prussia,  the  democrats  had  taken  no 
active  part  in  public  affairs  after  the  triumph  of  reaction  in 
1850.  By  their  abstention  rather  than  by  their  opposition, 
they  made  their  protest  against  the  counter-revolution,  and 
it  mattered  little  to  Virchow,  whether  he  was  in  retirement 
at  Wiirtzburg  or  in  Berlin. 

But  it  made  a  vast  difference  to  the  University  of  Berlin, 
The  medical  faculty,  which  at  that  time  was  not  of  the 
strongest,  was  much  criticised  by  the  professional  journals, 
and  the  friends  of  the  institution  were  impatient  that  the 
caprice  of  a  fantastic  prince  and  the  bigotry  of  an  unen- 
■  lightened  minister  should  deprive  it  of  its  most  illustrious 
name.     The    reputation    of  Virchow    had    been    steadily 


PROFESSOR  VIRCHOW.  221 

growing  at  Wiirtzburg.  Already  he  was  known  and  cited 
by  scientific  men  all  over  the  world  ;  and  wherever  he  was 
known  as  a  physicist,  he  was  also  known  as  an  exile  for 
conscience'  sake.  At  last  the  pressure  became  too  strong 
to  be  withstood.  The  same  Raumer  who  had  dismissed 
him  ignominiously  in  1849,  was  obliged  to  call  him  back  in 
1856,  to  give  him  his  old  position,  but  with  added  power 
and  honors.  Since  that  time  he  has  been  undisturbed.  He 
is  professor  of  pathology  at  the  university,  and  director  of 
microscopic  experiments  in  the  clinics  at  the  Charith. 

In  1862,  Virchow  became  a  member  of  the  House  of 
Deputies  in  the  Prussian  Landtag.  His  career  as  a  deputy 
.  began,  therefore,  with  that  of  Bismarck  as  a  minister  ;  but 
in  other  respects  there  is  not  only  no  identity  or  concord 
between  them,  but  rather  fierce  and  bitter  warfare.  Vir- 
chow, if  not  one  of  the  most  formidable,  is,  at  least,  one  of 
the  most  persistent  and  determined  critics  whom  Bismarck 
has  had  to  meet.  I  say,  "if  not  formidable,"  because  he 
is  not  a  professional  critic  who  may  become  a  rival,  who 
heads  a  party,  conducts  intrigues,  and,  in  general,  fights 
with  the  stubbornness  and  energy  of  a  candidate  for  the 
succession  ;  but  he  is  simply  an  active  and  zealous  citizen 
who  uses  his  parliamentary  power  as  a  means  of  serving 
his  fellow-citizens.  He  is  an  independent  critic,  not  a 
politician  in  control  of  a  faction  ;  he  is  feared  as  a  per- 
sonal antagonist,  but  not  as  an  ambitious  politician. 

At  the  same  time,  there  are  other  circumstances  which 
give  Virchow  unusual  influence  in  the  House.  His  brother 
deputies,  for  instance,  must  be  impressed  by  the  spectacle 
of  the  first  pathologist  in  the  world  laying  down  microscope 
and  dissecting  knife  at  the  command  of  an  exalted  public 


222  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

spirit,  and  taking  part  patiently  in  the  dullest  and  heaviest 
debates.  Learning  thus  to  appreciate  his  unselfish  patriot- 
ism, they  argue  from  that  to  the  soundness  of  his  political 
judgment.  This  is  a  pardonable  error,  but  still  an  error, 
for  Virchow  is  not  a  leader  whom  it  is  safe  blindly  to  fol- 
low. He  is  a  dociriftaire  and  a  Radical,  and  the  records  of 
the  past  twelve  years  will  hardly  show  a  single  great  meas- 
ure conceived  and  carried  through  by  him. 

The  Deputy  Virchow  has  two  grave  faults.  One  of  these 
is  peculiar  to  men  who  have  thought  out  their  political 
convictions  by  abstract  methods  and  as  a  recreation — to 
scholars  and  recluses  who  leave  the  closet  for  the  forum — 
an  offensive  dogmatism,  which  takes  too  little  account  of 
the  feelings  and  opinions  of  others.  It  does  not  follow, 
because  one  has  discovered  the  cellular  pathology,  that 
one's  political  theories  are  above  examination.  The 
professor,  most  certainly,  does  not  feel  any  such  supe- 
riority, but  his  manner  suggests  it ;  hence  his  warmth 
too  often  leads  him  into  intemperate  language,  or  in- 
tolerant conduct,  which  is  equally  exasperating,  and 
equally  likely  to  provoke  sharp  replies  and  angry  disputes. 
One  of  the  most  famous  of  these  was  with  Bismarck  him- 
self 

It  was  on  the  30th  of  May,  1865,  during  that  protracted 
struggle  between  Bismarck  and  the  House.  The  estimates 
for  the  navy  had  just  been  rejected.  The  Minister  Presi- 
dent remarked  that  the  denial  of  any  and  every  allowance 
for  th'e  fleet  was  in  singular  contrast  to  the  zeal  with  which 
the  Liberals  had  formerly  pressed  for  a  strengthening  that 
arm  of  the  service.  Professor  Virchow  replied  :  "The 
project  was  not  seriously  meant ;  it  was  only  a  feint.     But 


PROFESSOR   VIRCHOW.  223 

it  is  a  perversion  of  the  truth  to  say  that  the  committee  had 
no  interest  in  the  marine.  If  the  IMinister  President  has 
read  the  report,  then  I  do  not  know  what  I  shall  say  of  his 
honesty.  The  truth  is  that  the  reserves  in  the  State  Treas- 
ury are  decreasing ;  that  the  means  of  carrying-  on  the  gov- 
ernment without  a  budget  are  growing  less,  and  that  it  is 
sought  to  restore  the  deficiency  by  a  loan,  in  order  to  be 
able  still  to  sit  by  warm  stoves."  The  majority  laughed, 
when  Bismarck  inquired  where  matters  would  end,  if  insults 
were  uttered  which  demanded  personal  satisfaction  ;  and  he 
added  to  the  House  :  "There  is  an  opportunity  for  that, 
if  it  be  agreeable  to  you. "  Virchow  would  not  retract  his 
words  ;  the  President  would  not  call  him  to  order.  The 
next  day  Bismarck  sent  Virchow  a  challenge,  which,  of 
course,  was  not  accepted.  The  political  friends  of  the 
professor  counseled  him  to  decline,  and  he  received  many 
addresses  of  approval  from  the  country.  This  incident 
caused  a  great  sensation  at  the  time,  but  it  was  nearly  for- 
gotten by  the  present  generation,  when  it  was  cited,  not 
long  ago,  in  a  singular  way,  in  court.  A  gentleman  was 
on  trial  for  sending  a  challenge — a  species  of  pleasure  that 
the  German  laws  have  long  denied,  except  to  the  military — 
and,  in  mitigation  of  sentence,  the  defendant  referred  to 
the  case  of  Bismarck  versus  Virchow,  and  observed  that 
Bismarck  had  never  been  prosecuted  for  his  challenge. 
The  judge  replied  that  he  was  not  prosecuted  because  he 
was  protected  by  the  military  uniform  which,  as  an  officer 
in  the  Landwehr,  he  is  accustomed  and  entitled  to  wear. 

The  second  complaint  against  Virchow  is  that  he  speaks 
too  often.  He  is  never  unreasonably  long,  and  he  is 
seldom  dull  or  tiresome,  but  he  has  a  fatal  facility  of  speech, 


224  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

which  he,  loo  commonly,  fails  to  control.  Windthorst,  who 
is  by  no  mcnns  reticent,  would  call  Virchow  garrulous. 
He  nj'Lii  A.dc  uj  on  his  baltle-shicld  the  motto.  "Ever 
ready,"  but  it  could  only  be  taken  in  the  sense  of  ever 
willing.  Ever  prepared,  in  the  sense  of  special  equipment, 
by  study  and  reflection,  for  the  various  special  questions, 
as  they  come  up  in  the  House,  he,  unfortunately,  is  not  ; 
and,  still  more  unfortunately,  he  does  not  always  regard 
lack  of  preparation  as  a  reason  for  silence.  It  is  true  that 
the  special  student  who  crams  fop  particular  subjects  is 
often  less  useful,  as  a  legislator,  than  the  man  of  broad, 
general,  available  information.  But  the  latter  must  know 
when  his  general  information  is  adequate  for  the  occasion, 
and  when  the  more  profound  and  exact  knowledge  of  the 
specialist  is  to  be  invoked.  This  is  a  distinction  which 
Virchow  does  not  make.  He  is  a  frequent  and  copious 
speaker  on  questions  which,  involving  general  principles, 
may  be  familiar  to  all  minds  that  have  reflected  on  political 
subjects  ;  he  is  a  brilliant  debater  on  problems  to  which 
his  trained  intellect  has  been  fairly  applied  ;  but  he  also 
takes  up  with  equal  readiness,  and  settles  with  equal  au- 
thority, issues  on  which  more  modest  men,  not  specially 
prepared,  would  gladly  be  silent. 

Even  as  I  write  this  paragraph,  an  evening  paper  calls 
attention,  though  in  a  less  friendly  spirit,  to  this  unfortu- 
nate tendency.  The  measure  before  the  House  was  the 
new  constitution  for  the  Evangelical  Church  in  Prussia,  an 
ecclesiastical  or  politico-ecclesiastical  subject,  on  which 
neither  a  professor  of  pathology,  nor  a  Radical  agitator,  could 
be  supposed  to  have  any  indispensable  general  views.  It 
appears,  too,  that  Dr.  Virchow  did  not  think  it  necessary 


PROFESSOR   VIRCHOW.  225 

to  supply  the  want  of  previous  information  by  special 
study.  He  plunged  fearlessly  and  recklessly  into  the  dis- 
cussion, grapfjled  with  men  who  had  given  years  of  thought 
to  such  questions,  and  the  result  maybe  learned  from  the 
critic  o[  the  Fos/.  He  says,  that  "among  the  speakers 
who  took  part  in  the  important  general  discussion  of  the 
bill  upon  the  constitution  of  the  Evangelical  Church,  Dr. 
Virchow  was,  without  doubt,  one  of  the  least  fortunate  in 
his  arguments.  Aside  from  the  fact  that  he  made  the  mis- 
take of  treating  a  section  of  the  bill  that  had  been  adopt- 
ed by  the  Synod,  as  having  been  abandoned  in  the  scheme 
accepted  by  the  king,  whereas  it  was  only  given  a  differ- 
ent place  and  form — aside  from  this,  his  reasoning  was  so 
weak  that  the  Evangelical  Church  can  only  be  pitied  that 
she  must  see  her  affairs  discussed  and  pronounced  upon  by 
one  who  has  such  an  imperfect  understanding  of  ecclesias- 
tical questions.  If  Dr.  Virchow  pretends  that  '  the  eccle- 
siastics who  drew  up  the  synodal  scheme  in  question  issued 
from  the  school  which  Stahl  in  politics,  and  Hengstenberg 
in  theology,  founded  and  represented,'  it  is  a  phrase  which 
would  perhaps  make  an  impression  on  a  ward  meeting, 
but  which,  neither  in  the  attitude  of  the  General  Synod  nor 
of  the  Provincial  Synods,  has  any  justification  in  facts. "  * 

So  writes  the  critic  of  the  Conservative  and  ministerial 
sheet,  which  is  indeed  politically  hostile  to  Dr.  Virchow. 
But  the  Berlin  correspondent  of  a  more  pretentious  peri- 
odical, the  Grenzboten,  which  is  more  liberal  than  the  Post, 
is  scarcely  less  severe  in  its  strictures  : 

"  And  now,"  it  says,  ' '  followed  Hero  Virchow.     He  had 

*  Die  Post,  March  2,  1875. 


226  BRIEF   BIOGRAnilES. 

armed  himself  in  all  his  force,  and  whoever  was  present 
during  the  session  of  the  26th  of  February  must  say  that 
this  personage,  as  often  as  he  has  spoken,  never  before  ap- 
peared so  distinctly  in  his  own  character.  At  the  outset,  he 
declared  to  the  House  that  no  other  entered  upon  the  dis- 
cussion so  well  prepared  as  he.  As  thereupon  a  laugh 
arose  from  the  benches  of  the  Conservatives,  he  held  up  the 
volume  of  debates  of  the  General  Synod,  and  demanded  : 
'  Have  you  read  that  through  ?  I  have  studied  it  from  be- 
ginning to  end.'  It  was  imposing.  But  when  he  had  fin- 
ished his  discourse,  the  Cullus-Miniskr  proved  that  he 
could,  at  most,  only  have  glanced  at  ihe  reports  ;  that  all 
his  deductions  were  false  or  unreasonable  ;  that  he  had  not 
only  not  read  the  reports,  but  not  even  the  synodal  consti- 
tution." * 

In  spite  of,  or  rather  perhaps  on  account  of,  these  ad- 
verse criticisms,  the  reader  may  demand  from  this  now  his- 
torical speech  a  specimen  of  Virchow's  powers  of  declama- 
tion. I  select  the  closing  paragraph,  in  which  he  recapit- 
ulates his  objections  to  the  measure  : 

"And  now  in  what  concerns  the  Summus  Episcopiis  : 
that  is  an  institution  which  has  remained  by  the  side 
of  the  constitution,  as  it  were,  a  forgotten  magnate.  Ever 
appears,  when  nothing  else  helps,  the  old  king  of  1849 
and  1850.  He  plays  the  same  part  here  as  the  war  dele- 
gate of  Herr  von  Bismarck,  who  regularly  enters  when  there 
is  no  other  salvation.  That  happens  because  old  institu- 
tions, which  ought  to  have  been  abolished,  have  been 
retained  with  the  constitution.      The   monarchical   power 

*  Die  Gi'enzboten,  1876,  No.  10,  page  398. 


PROFESSOR   VIRCHOW,  22/ 

always  appears  in  spite  of  the  constitution.  The  attempt 
to  sustain  a  personal  ecclesiastical  authority  has  often 
been  made  by  Prussian  kings.  But  I  have  reached 
through  my  historical  studies  other  results  than  those  of 
the  Cidlus-Minister  (minister  of  worship).  After  abso- 
lutism has  been  everywhere  abolished,  shall  we  restore  it 
in  the  domain  of  ecclesiastical  affairs  ?  I  am  not  an 
enthusiast  for  the  constitutional  principle  in  this  domain. 
The  constitutional  principle  was  not  introduced  into  the 
world  to  make  churches  ;  that,  according  to  my  concep- 
tion, would  soon  put  an  end  to  our  inner  Protestant  life. 
We  should  thereby  introduce  a  Catholic  tendency,  and  that 
we  will  not  have.  He  who  wishes  that,  may  create  the 
necessary  organs,  but  he  must  not  compel  others  to  adopt 
them.  The  Protestant  Union  deceives  itself,  if  it  believes 
in  the  possibility  of  building  a  wall  here.  The  organization 
of  the  General  Synod  cannot  exist  indifferently  by  the 
side  of  the  civil  institutions  ;  irremediable  confusion  would 
be  the  result.  A  spiritual  king  by  the  side  of  a  temporal 
one  is  inconceivable  to  us." 

On  special  occasions,  however,  Professor  Virchow  is  a 
felicitous  and  popular  orator.  I  have  mentioned  the 
funeral  orations  of  Dr.  Gneist.  He  has  a  broader  practical 
understanding  and  abetter  trained  historical  judgment  ;  but 
Virchow  has  a  deeper  warmth  of  conviction,  and  a  more 
active  fancy.  The  former  can  make  an  admirable  analysis 
of  a  character  like  Stein,  for  instance,  which  belongs  to  the 
past  and  is  little  affected  by  the  passions  and  prejudices  of 
the  present.  The  latter  is  more  successful  when  he  throws 
the  warmth  of  his  feelings  into  the  eulogy  of  a  personal  or 
a  political  friend.      His   discourse  in   honor  of  Schonlein, 


228  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

his  friend  and  teacher,  delivered  in  1865,  was  widely 
admired,  and  among  more  recent  performances  may  be 
mentioned  the  tribute  to  Hoverbeck. 

This  gentleman  was  a  politician,  and  an  extract  from  his 
eulogy  will  suit  most  nearly  the  character  of  this  sketch, 
while  giving  an  equally  good  idea  of  Virchow'^  style. 
After  tracing  Hoverbeck's  career  as  a  Prussian  deputy, 
through  the  stormy  Conjliktszeit,  he  ushers  him  into  the 
Reichstag  as  an  imperial  legislator,  charged  with  still  graver 
duties.  "And  yet,"  he  concludes,  "  it  was  little  that  he  ac- 
accomplished.  In  the  main,  he  saw  with  anxiety  into  the 
future.  The  faulty  organization  of  the  empire,  the  conflict 
always  growing  and  threatening  between  budget  and  army, 
occupied  his  spirit  more  than  the  progress  that  had  been 
made  in  certain  fields  of  legislation.  Even  the  Cidlur- 
kampf  appeared  to  him  in  many  of  its  phases  to  be  a 
treacherous  side-path,  which  led  the  people  away  from 
the  broad  thoroughfare  ;  and,  although  we  must  recognize 
the  conviction  finally  taking  possession  of  him,  that  this 
conflict  was  an  important  step  in  the  liberation  of  the 
people  ;  although,  with  a  heavy  heart,  he  resolved  to  sup- 
port exceptional  measures  in  the  Reichstag,  it  troubled  him, 
nevertheless,  that  it  was  a  political  strife,  undertaken  and 
conducted  on  artificial  grounds,  and  in  no  sense  from  a 
free  and  conscious  insight  into  the  moral  necessity  of  free- 
ing the  citizen,  with  full  enlightenment  on  the  end  to  be 
obtained,  and  the  purpose  to  obtain  it.  When  he  looked 
into  politico,  he  saw  everywhere  new  and  greater  work  for 
himself.  Everywhere  uncleanness,  incompleteness,  irreso- 
lution— and  yet  he  did  not  despair.  Like  every  good  man, 
he  was  inspired  by  the  confidence  of  the  people.      He  never 


PROFESSOR   VIRCIIOW.  229 

wavered  in  the  assurance  that  his  German  people  would 
keep  tlie  resolution  and  the  will  to  conquer  all  their  rights, 
lienever  lost  the  confidence  that,  in  spite  of  everything,  tine 
German  Empire  would  be  an  empire  of  justice  and  progress. 
In  this  assurance,  in  this  hope,  he  passed  away.  He  had 
wandered  out  to  the  mountains,  where  freedom  dwells.  He 
would  seek  strength  for  new  labors.  But  this  was  never 
more  to  be  granted  to  him.  He  had  done  an  abundant 
measure  of  work.  *  *  *  His  place  in  Parliament 
will  be  filled  by  another  ;  but  his  party,  yes,  his  people, 
will  always  see  it  empty.  The  massive  figure  is  broken. 
When  it  arose,  towering  upward,  when  there  was  seen  in 
it  the  appearance  of  a  man  equal  to  himself,  then  every  one 
who  had  a  true  heart  and  loved  honest  speech  won  confi- 
dence. Like  the  Polish  peasant,  who  heard  a  speech  by  him 
and  applauded  without  having  understood  a  word — like 
him,  everybody  who  looked  into  those  calm  eyes,  ami 
that  manly  face,  so  full  of  determination  and  spirit,  knew 
that  his  conscience  was  as  pure  as  gold,  and  his  con- 
clusions clear  as  the  sun.  The  words  which  fell  from 
his  uKniih  were  few,  but  they  were  sharp  as  a  knife. 
Berore  him  stood  no  screen  of  lies,  'no  curtain  of  the  truth. 
And  yet  there  lay  in  that  countenance  the  lines  of  moder- 
ation, of  mildness,  of  benevolence,  which  opened  hearts 
and  announced  his  sympathy  with  all  the  good  and  true." 
But  when  we  have  named  his  professor's  chair  and  his 
deputy's  seat,  we  have  by  no  means  exhausted  the  instru- 
ments with  which  Virchow  works  for  the  public  good.  If 
the  best  citizen  be  he  who  most  actively  concerns  himself 
with  the  cares  of  the  community  ;  if  Terence's  descriptit.n 
of  the  good  man,  as  one  to  whom   no  human  interest  is 


230  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

foreign,  be  correct — then  Dr.  Virchow  is  the  model 
citizen,  and  the  model  philanthropist.  For  instance,  he 
is,  and  has  been  since  1859,  a  member  of  the  municipal 
chamber,  and  has  faithfully  performed  the  humble  duties 
of  alderman.  He  is  one  of  the  lecturers  before  the  "Berlin 
Mechanics'  Union."  He  belongs  to  the  directors  of  the 
"  Union  for  Domestic  and  Popular  Instruction."  For  a  long 
time  he  was  one  of  the  managers  of  the  "  Turners  "  Associ- 
ation, and  wrote  two  or  three  pamphlets  on  subjects  connect- 
ed with  popular  gymnastics.  To  enumerate  all  the  scien- 
tific, benevolent,  and  other  societies  of  which  he  is  a  mem- 
ber, would  fill  two  pages.  He  even  received  the  offer  of  a 
seat  in  the  Imperial  Parliament,  but  declined  it  for  reasons 
of  principle,  which  are  worthy  of  explanation. 

The  German  Empire,  or  its  predecessor,  the  North 
German  Confederation,  issued  from  the  battle  of  Sadowa. 
About  this,  all  men  in  Prussia  were  agreed  ;  but  all  men 
were  not  agreed  as  to  the  expediency  or  the  honest  possi- 
bility of  a  recognition  of  this  new  system  by  men  who 
abhorred  the  policy  that  brought  it  forth.  The  majority 
of  the  House  were  in  great  distress.  For  four  years  they  had 
shouted  that  Bismarck  was  leading  Prussia  to  destruction, 
and  he  had  answered  \vith  a  united  Fatherland.  For 
more  than  four  years  they  had  struggled  for  German  unity, 
and  it  came  in  a  form  which  affronted  all  the  instincts 
of  their  conscience.  Should  they  condone  the  offenses  of 
the  past,  or  destroy  the  fair  promises  of  the  future  ?  The 
answer  to  this  question  rent  the  Party  of  Progress  asunder. 
It  was  an  affair  of  personal  conviction,  with  which  no 
caucus  would  presume  to  meddle  ;  and  while  half  the 
Liberals  accepted  the  compromise,  the  other  half  resolutely 


PROFESSOR   VIRCHOW.  23 1 

refused  it.  Professor  Gneist,  who  had  once  branded  the 
Bismarck  policy  with  the  mark  of  Cain,  was  one  of  the 
most  eager,  by  a  vote  of  indemnity,  to  wash  it  out  again. 
Professor  Virchow  was  less  merciful  and  less  confiding. 
He  not  only  would  not  stultify  himself,  by  voting  pardon 
fur  a  long  and  deliberate  violation  of  the  public  charter, 
but  he  was  also  one  of  the  little  band  which  preserved, 
amid  the  seductions  of  an  idle  patriotism,  the  name  and 
principles  of  the  Progress  party.  He  would  not  grant  im- 
munity for  the  policy  which  created  the  empire;  he  would 
not  accept  the  machinery  of  government  proposed  for  that 
empire  ;  he  would  not  even  accept  a  seat  in  its  highest  legis- 
lative assembly.  In  this  fidelity  to  principle,  he  and  Jacoby 
stood  alone.  Their  position  may  have  been  false  in  logic, 
and  an  error  of  statesmanship,  but  it  was  maintained  at  some 
cost  to  them  of  honor  and  convenience,  and  it  is  not  easy 
to  refuse  them  a  certain  measure  of  admiration. 

Dr.  Virchow  is  a  voluminous  author.  In  addition  to 
the  works  already  mentioned,  he  has  published  a  small 
library  of  works,  books  and  pamphlets,  special  and 
professional,  besides  hundreds  of  magazine  articles  and 
speeches.  A  list  of  his  more  important  works  will  give  a 
notion  far  from  adequate  of  his  restless  activity.  In  1849, 
he  printed  "The  Unification  Struggle  in  Scientific 
Medicine,"  which  contained  a  partial  exposition  of  his 
pathological  theories.  The  so-called  cellular  theory  was 
first  stated  at  length  in  the  volume  published  in  1859, 
under  the  title,  "Lectures  upon  Cellular  Pathology, 
as  grounded  upon  the  Physiological  and  Pathological 
Theory  of  Tissue."  This  was  afterwards  incorporated  as 
the    first  volume  of  the  larger  work  completed  in   1862, 


232  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

which  was  called  simply  "Lectures  on  Pathology."  In 
1856,  he  published  a  collection  of  fugitive  articles,  under 
the  title,  "  Contributions  to  Scientific  Medicine ; "  in 
1854,  in  connection  with  other  eminent  gentlemen,  the 
' '  Hand-book  of  Special  Pathology  and  Therapeutics  ;  " 
in  1857,  "Investigations  into  the  Development  of  the 
Skull;"  in  1862,  "Four  Discourses  upon  Life  and  Sick- 
ness ;  "  in  1865,  "  The  Theory  of  Trichina  ;  "  in  1861, 
"  Goethe  as  a  Naturalist, "  etc. ,  etc.  In  company  with 
Professor  von  Holtzendorff,  of  Munich,  he  edits  a  series  of 
popular  scientific  treatises,  to  which  he  himself  has  contri- 
buted two  numbers.  The  articles  written  by  him  for  the 
"Turners"  and  other  special  societies,  have  already  been 
mentioned. 

Dr.  Virchow  is  a  man  slightly  under  the  medium  height, 
but  of  good  proportions.  He  has  a  clear,  strong  voice, 
his  gestures  and  elocution  are  good,  and  his  style  is 
throughout  forcible  and  impressive.  Although  he  is  nom- 
inally a  member  of  the  Party  of  Progress,  he  is  really  an 
independent  member,  who  speaks  and  votes  from  convic- 
tion, and  not  for  or  with  any  party. 


XVIII. 


Professor  von  Treitschke. 


HIS  robust  and  popular  politician  was  born  on  the 
15th  of  October,  1834,  at  Dresden,  and  belonged 
to  a  respectable  Protestant  family.  He  pursued 
his  studies  at  the  universities  of  Bonn,  Leipsic,  Tubingen, 
and  Heidelberg.  A  popular  gar^on  among  his  fellows  at 
school,  he  was  also  a  showy  and  brilliant  student,  and  a 
favorite  debater  at  college  clubs,  and  elsewhere.  Although 
a  man  of  firm  Liberal  convictions,  he  had  also  an  unusual 
moderation  and  maturity  of  view.  He  was  then,  and  is 
now,  a  Conservative,  with  the  fiery  speech  and  ardent 
eloquence  of  a  Radical — a  graceful  writer  and  a  convincing 
speaker,  but  utterly  free  from  every  form  of  fanaticism. 

On  his  "promotion"  or  graduation,  he  won  honors  in 
history,  especially  political  history,  and  was  appointed 
Privat-Docent  at  Leipsic,  where  he  remained  till  1863. 
From  thence  he  passed  to  the  University  of  Freiburg,  where 
he  became  Professor.  In  1866,  he  accepted  an  invitation  to 
Kiel,  and  soon  afterward  to  Heidelberg,  where  he  suc- 
ceeded the  famous  historian,  Pliiusser. 


234  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

The  course  of  events  which  led  to  this  order  of  succession 
was  political,  as  well  as  scholastic,  and  in  explaining  that, 
we  explain  the  circumstances  of  Treitschke's  debut  in  pub- 
lic life.  It  will  be  recollected  that  after  the  Danish  war  of 
1864,  and  the  occupation  of  the  Duchies  by  the  united 
armies  of  Austria  and  Prussia,  the  problem  arose,  to  find  a 
permanent  adjustment  of  the  new  relations.  The  Liberals 
perhaps  regarded  the  embarrassment  with  a  secret  satisfac- 
tion. They  had  asserted  that  war  to  be  as  unjust  and  un- 
necessary, as  it  was  unlawfully  undertaken  and  cruelly 
conducted  ;  and  they  could  take  a  pardonable  delight  in 
the  fact  that  the  conquest  left  the  political  complications 
more  perplexing  than  before.  The  central  object  of 
aversion,  not  to  say  hatred,  was,  of  course,  Herr  von  Bis- 
marck, Prussian  minister-president.  These  feelings  were 
even  stronger  among  non-Prussians,  than  among  Prussians  ; 
for,  while  the  latter  criticised  his  course  only  as  a  matter  of 
domestic  politics,  the  former  viewed  it  as  part  of  a  scheme 
for  effecting  German  unity,  by  means  which  they  abhorred. 
The  invasion  of  the  Duchies  was  regarded  by  the  smaller 
States  as  an  unwarrantable  aggression  on  German  rights. 

In  this  state  of  things,  the  literature  of  the  question 
received  a  sudden  and  remarkable  addition.  Heinrichvon 
Treitschke  was  a  Liberal,  and  a  non-Prussian,  a  Saxon  by 
birth,  who  had  been  almost  driven  from  Leipsic  because 
he  was  too  liberal ;  and  he  now  came  forward  to  defend 
Bismarck's  policy  in  the  Duchies.  His  pamphlet  was 
called  "  The  Parties  and  the  Duchies."*  Its  immediate 
object   was    to    vindicate   the   treatment    which     Prince 

*  "  Die  Partcien  unci  die  Ilerzos'thiimer." 


PROFESSOR   VON   TREITSCIIKE.  235 

Frederic,  one  of  the  candidates  for  the  succession  in  the 
Duchies,  had  received  from  the  two  allied  powers,  and 
more  particularly  from  Prussia,  under  Bismarck's  directions. 
But  this  was  not  all.  It  had  been  said  above  that  the  Danish 
war  was  a  German  event,  and  that  Bismarck's  policy  was  so 
far  a  German  question,  that  the  position  of  Prussians  in  Ger- 
many would  be  determined  largely  by  the  consequences  of 
that  event.  Treitschke  had,  therefore,  a  double  duty.  He 
had  to  justify  Herr  von  Bismarck,  not  only  to  Prussia,  but 
also  to  Germany.  He  had  to  show,  not  only  that  the  oc- 
cupation of  the  Duchies,  and  the  expulsion  of  Prince 
Frederic,  were  sagacious  measures  in  the  interest  of  Prussia, 
but  that,  in  a  larger  sense,  the  hopes  of  German  unity  lay 
in  a  strong  and  compact  State  fused  around  Prussia,  rather 
than  a  loose  Confederation,  with  "Particularism"  every- 
where triumphant.  In  other  words,  the  young  professor 
came  forward  as  the  South  German  champion  of  Prussian 
leadership  in  the  distracted  fatherland. 

The  pamphlet  made  a  great  sensation.  The  author  was 
but  little  known,  either  in  literary  or  academic  circles.  It 
was  discovered  that  he  had  published,  in  1856,  a  volume  of 
sonnets,  which  were  more  distinguished  for  their  patriotic 
than  their  poetical  spirit.  In  1859,  he  had  written  a  work 
on  Social  Science,*  which  had  but  moderate  success,  and 
is  now  forgotten.  It  was  also  learned  that  some  scholarly 
and  ingenious  essays,  on  historical  and  biographical  sub- 
jects in  two  or  three  leading  periodicals,  were  from  his  pen. 
After  the  appearance  of  his  pamphlet  in  defense  of  Bis- 
marck, however,  the  country  recognized  in  him  a  literary 


*  "Die  Gesellschaftswissenschaft." 


236  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

and  a  political  talent  of  the  first  order  ;  and  the  files  of  the 
periodical  literature  were  eagerly  searched,  with  the  result 
above  described.  A  demand  for  their  republication 
became  felt,  and  was  satisfied.  The  historical  and  critical 
essays,  a  biographical  sketch  of  Wagenheim,  and  the 
famous  pamphlet,  were  collected  in  a  single  volume,*  and 
given  out  to  the  world.  From  that  time,  his  literary 
position,  at  least,  was  assured. 

In  the  Grenzbolen,  the  eff"ect  produced  by  Treitschke's 
pamphlet  is  graphically  described. 

"The  effect, "  says  a  writer,  in  the  periodical  to  which 
Treitschke  himself  contributed,  "was  powerful.  The 
pedants  and  hucksters  of  history  raged  over  this  boldness 
of  view  and  frankness  of  speech  ;  many  a  professional 
teacher  of  history  shook  continually  his  shaggy  head. 
The  Liberal  Philistines  in  the  North,  and  still  more  in  the 
South,  growled  or  howled  anger  and  wrath  against  the 
renegade,  who  had  so  little  respect  for  the  phrases  of  Liber- 
alism. And,  although  in  many  circles,  Treitschke's  histori- 
cal assertations  supplied  a  defect  in  political  reflection  and 
political  education,  his  tone  was  still  held  to  be  too 
passionate,  too  vivacious,  too  positive  and  dogmatic. 
Unreserved  applause  Treitschke  received,  at  first,  only  from 
a  few.  But  the  more  he  was  read,  the  more  clearly  there 
was  recognized,  in  his  spirited  language,  concise  historical 
truth ;  so  much  the  more  general  became  the  convic- 
tion that  he  united  a  warm  patriotic  feeling  with  a  remark- 
ably clear  and  deep  insight  into  the  more  recent  German 
history.    At  first,  the  fresh  aphorisms  of  the  young  publicist 

*  "  Ilistorische  und  Politische  Atifsdtze." 


PROFESSOR   VON   TREITSCHKE.  237 

may  easily  have  passed  for  political  fancies,  for  one-sided 
theories.  With  closer  and  deeper  study,  one  recognized 
a  basis  of  historical  study,  from  which  political  judgments 
had  securely  built  themselves  up.  In  scientific  circles, 
also,  the  recognition  and  appreciation  of  Treitschke  began 
to  rise."  * 

His  pamphlet,  indeed,  did  not  rest  unanswered.  It 
called  forth  a  multitude  of  replies,  which,  as  is  commonly 
the  case,  wanted  the  freshness,  and  failed  to  win  the 
celebrity  of  the  original  work.  But  the  Prussian  govern- 
ment did  not  forget  its  bold  champion.  After  the  war  of 
1866  and  the  expulsion  of  Austria  from  the  Duchies,  the 
University  of  Kiel  became  a  Prussian  institution,  and 
Treitschke  joined  its  faculty  as  professor  of  history. 

The  significance  of  Treitschke's  appointment  to  Heidel- 
berg, on  the  death  of  Plausser,  lay  in  the  opposite  political 
tendencies  of  the  two  men.  Hausser  was  a  veteran  in 
German  academic  circles,  and  in  German  historical  litera- 
ture, and  enjoyed  a  great  and  deserved  authority  in  the 
North  and  in  the  South.  But  l>e  was  one  of  the  most 
strenuous  opponents  of  Prussia.  One  of  the  last  occasions 
on  which  his  pen  was  employed,  was  devoted  to  a  severe 
and  vigorous  arraignment  of  Bismarck,  for  the  Danish 
war  ;  and  his  last  injunction  to  his  countrymen  was  to 
resist  the  aggressions  of  Prussian  statesmanship.  Pie  died, 
and  the  most  conspicuous  defender  of  Bismarck  and 
PiTissia  became  his  successor  at  Heidelberg. 

Treitschke's  religious  views  have  been  the  subject  of 
much  dispute.    He  was  accused  of  being,  and  doubtless  is, 

'^' Die  Gnitzbotcn,  1872,  No.  15,  page  44. 


238  BRIEF   BIOGRAnilES. 

a  Rationalist,  bi.it  he  once  gave  so  eloquent  a  statement  of  his 
respect  for  piety  and  the  pious,  that  it  deserves  to  be  repro- 
duced. He  blamed,  he  said,  the  presumption  of  learning, 
which  looked  down  superciliously  upon  the  modest  faith 
of  the  unlearned.  "Never,"  continued  he,  "can  the 
most  intense  scientific  conviction  replace  in  any  man  the 
blessings  of  belief!  Before  the  eternal  problems  of  life, 
before  the  questions  which  most  deeply  torture  and  agitate 
the  soul,  the  scholar  is  as  helpless  as  the  peasant.  From 
such  questions  only  a  mine  of  unfruitful  resignation  leads 
away — or  the  force  of  faith,  the  conviction  conquered  in 
severe  trials  of  the  soul,  that  the  inconceivable  is  the 
all-certain,  that  God  is  just,  and  his  dispositions  wise.  I 
am  still  the  free-thinker  that  I  was  fourteen  years  ago,  when 
I  wrote  the  article  on  freedom.  I  hold  to-day  that  noiwhat, 
but  how  we  believe,  determines  the  moral  dignity  of  man- 
hood. But  during  this  fruitful  period,  the  religious  feel- 
ing in  me  is  becoming  stronger.  I  have  gratefully  seen 
the  work  of  Providence  in  the  fortunes  of  my  country,  as 
well  as  my  own  house,  ajid  I  feel  more  keenly  than  hereto- 
fore the  need  of  bowing  humbly  before  God.  Through 
the  intellectual  conflicts  of  the  present,  an  incurable 
breach  has  been  made  in  our  people.  This  condition  is 
far  too  unnatural  to  be  perpetuated  in  a  conscientious 
nation.  Every  one,  without  exception,  is  poorer  in  heart 
when  he  stifles  the  religious  feeling  within  him."* 
The  reader  will  be  able  to  say  whether  religion  is  in  much 
danger   from  a  man  who    can  write  such     a  passage  as 

this! 

^^"  Scndschreiben  an  Gitstav  Schmoller." 


PROFESSOR   VON   TREITSCHKE.  239 

In  1 87 1,  Professor  von  Treitschke  became  a  member  of 
the  Imperial  Parliament.  Although  his  entrance  upon  a 
legislative  career  was  greeted  by  many  with  enthusiasm,  and 
by  all  with  interest,  his  success  was  impaired  by  an  unfor- 
tunate physical  infirmity — deafness.  He  cannot  follow  the 
course  of  debate,  he  cannot  even  understand  the  whispers 
of  his  immediate  neighbors.  One  of  these,  however,  Dr. 
Wehrenpfennig,  renders  him  a  touching  and  graceful  ser- 
vice. Sitting  patiently  by  his  friend's  side,  he  writes  rapidly, 
with  a  pencil,  while  Treitschke  eagerly  reads,  the  points 
made  or  ra'sed  during  the  discussion,  the  causes  of  laughter 
or  tumult,  and  from  time  to  time  the  progress  and  conditions 
of  pending  measures.  These  hints  are,  indeed,  the  condi- 
tions of  Treitschke's  intelligent  interest  in  parliamentary 
work,  but  not  alone  the  texts  for  his  speeches.  These  are 
rather  the  philosophic  harangues  of  a  patriot,  than  the  dispu- 
tatious pleas  of  a  politician.  It  would  be  unjust  to  call  them 
essays,  spoken  from  the  tribune,  instead  of  published  in  the 
Preussische  Jahrb'ixcher.  They  are  always  practical  and  per- 
tinent, real  contributions  to  the  question  at  issue,  incisive 
in  form  and  impassioned  in  tone,  thoughtful  without  being 
dull,  and  clear  without  being  shallow  ;  and  if  they  read 
better  than  they  sound,  the  orator,  and  not  the  debater,  is 
at  fault.  Deaf  men  are  notoriously,  and  for  obvious  reas- 
ons, poor  speakers.  With  all  admiration  for  his  great  lit- 
erary talents,  for  the  elevated  purity  of  his  character,  and 
f^r  the  romantic  devotion  with  which  he  pursues  his  diffi- 
cult task,  I  am  compelled  to  say  that  Treitschke  is  one  of 
the  most  outrageous  speakers  who  ever  addressed  an  audi- 
ence. He  has  no  control  over  his  voice,  his  intonation, 
or  his  utterance.      He  mumbles,  and  roars,    and  stirieks  ; 


240  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

he  brand islies  his  arms  and  shakes  his  fists  ;  he  pounds 
with  hands  and  feet ;  and  during  all  these  physical  contor- 
tions, never  interrupts  the  foaming  torrent  of  his  words. 
His  manner  is  more  that  of  a  fanatic,  or  a  madman,  than 
of  a  moderate  and  somewhat  Conservative  professor.  Ed- 
mund Burke  said  of  a  certain  pamphleteer  of  the  French 
Revolution,  that  he  railed  against  monks  in  the  spirit  of  a 
monk.  In  the  same  way,  it  may  be  said  of  Treitschke's 
manner,  though  not  of  his  matter,  that  he  declaims  against 
Socialism  with  the  violence  of  a /e/ri^/t'/^r.  In  one  respect 
his  deafness  is  a  blessing.  He  does  not  hear  the  angry  in- 
terruptions— now  from  the  benches  of  the  Ultramontanes, 
now  from  the  corner  where  sit  the  Socialists — but  tears 
along  with  his  philippic,  undisturbed,  to  the  end.  Some- 
times his  faithful  friend,  Wehrenpfennig  reaches  up  to  him 
a  slip  of  paper  with  an  important  hint,  but  the  furious 
orator  notices  it  no  more  than  a  fly  on  his  desk. 

In  spite  of  all  this,  the  reader  may  be  not  unprepared  to 
believe  that  Professor  Treitschke  is  one  of  the  most  success- 
ful speakers  in  the  House.  No  other  member  is  heard 
with  more  respect,  or  more  interest.  When  he  mounts 
the  tribune,  his  brother  deputies,  from  all  parts  of  the  House, 
and  of  every  political  party,  gather  hurriedly  around  him 
in  order  that  they  may  catch  every  word  of  his  remarkable 
speeches.  The  chairman  leans  eagerly  over  his  table  to 
listen  ;  Bismarck  lays  down  his  long  pencil  and  draws  near 
the  scene  of  interest.  Even  the  cynical  Windthorst  some- 
times forgets  to  sneer.  The  nervous  invective  and  impetu- 
ous rhetoric  have  a  strange  fascination  for  the  hearers  ;  and 
when  Treitschke  retires  to  his.  seat  the  House  visibly 
arouses,  as  if  it  had  been  under  the  spell  of  some  violent 


TROFESSOR   VON    TREITSCHKE.  24I 

but  refreshing  storm.  The  worthy  citizen  who  reads  such 
a  discourse  the  next  day  in  his  newspaper,  will  admire  itt) 
literary  and  philosophical  beauties.  But  the  severe  critic 
in  the  gallery,  who  may  be  familiar  with  the  best  orator}'  of 
France,  and  England,  and  America  ;  who  may  have  heard 
a  Jules  Favre,  or  a  Wendell  Phillips,  will  be  at  a  loss  to 
explain  the  enthusiasm  shown  toward  such  a  speaker ;  a 
speaker  who  has  neither  grace  of  manner,  nor  of  elocution, 
nor  any  of  the  prescribed  virtues  of  an  orator,  except  an 
intense  earnestness,  which  is  revealed  in  a  turgid,  furious 
and  unintelligible  declamation. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  literary  style  of  Treitschke,  as 
shown  in  his  published  writings,  is  of  the  very  highest 
order.  The  critic,  who  has  already  been  quoted,  says 
justly  that  he  "  is  a  master  of  the  essay  form.  Previously 
little  known  by  us  Germans,  little  used,  and  highly  valued, 
the  historical  essay  has  begun  within  the  last  two  decades 
to  play  a  great  role.  It  offers  to  him  who  knows  how  to 
manage  it,  many  advantages.  An  author,  who  has  under- 
taken to  treat  a  given  historical  subject,  can  allow  his  own 
views  greater  license  in  an  essay,  than  in  an  elaborate  book. 
It  is  permitted  to  him  to  take  up  only  the  sides  which 
more  particularly  attract  him,  or  on  which  he  can  throw 
special  light.  *  *  *  He  who  considers  together  the  va- 
rious works  of  Treitschke,  will  be  able  to  make  the  dis- 
tinction clear.  He  will  see  how  the  studies  of  this  writer 
include  and  encompass  the  entire  national  life  of  our 
century,  with  all  its  interests  of  the  most  different  kinds. 
And  he  will  observe  even  while  his  eye  is  upon  the  work 
as  a  whole,  how  carefully  Treitschke  has  concentrated  his 
labor  upon  certain  leading  subjects,  how  he  has  assigned  to 
II 


242  ERIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

himself,  in  single  essays,  the  special  and  thorough  treat- 
ment of  selected  topics.  We  may  almost  say  that  the 
bases  of  a  history  of  the  civilized  peoples  of  the  nineteenth 
century  are  to  be  found  in  these  dissertations.  The 
author  nowhere  betrays  an  intention  to  undertake  such  a 
history.  In  each  essay  he  treats  the  subject  in  a  way  that 
easily  reveals  the  philosophical  completeness  of  his 
studies,  but  leaves  to  each  the  unimpaired  freedom  of  its 
own  nature.  *  *  *  And  the  works  of  the  professor,  however 
much  they  may  seem  to  be  the  product  of  party  spirit, 
however  elegant  their  outward  form,  are  the  results  of 
deep,  exhaustive,  real  scientific  studies."* 

Treitschke  is  joint  editor,  with  Dr.  Wehrenpfennig,  of 
the  Preiissische  Jahrhxicher,  one  of  the  most  considerable 
periodicals  of  Germany.  It  is  in  this  that  all  of  his  later 
essays  have  first  appeared,  and  it  is  his  name  which,  more 
than  any  other  element,  contributes  to  its  success.  The 
Germans  are  not  great  readers  of  periodical  literature.  A 
newspaper  of  the  better  class,  which  reaches  a  circulation 
of  ten  thousand  copies,  daily,  is  already  a  great  triumph. 
The  leading  literary  weekly,  which  corresponds  to  the 
weekly  reviews  of  England  and  America,  is  exceptionally 
prosperous  with  a  regular  issue  of  seven  thousand,  and  a 
monthly  review,  which,  within  a  year,  has  won  about  ten 
thousand  subscribers,  is  justly  regarded  as  a  phenomenal 
success.  It  is  unnecessary  here  to  inquire  into  the  causes 
of  this  fact.  But  one  circumstance,  which  long  impaired 
the  circulation  of  the  more  serious  periodicals,  was  the 
fatuous  timidity  with  which  they  confined  themselves  to 

*  Grenzboten,  1872,  No.  15,  pp.  48,  49. 


PROFESSOR   VON   TREITSCHKE.  243 

abstract  or  neutral  subjects,  and  evaded  the  fresh  Hving 
issues  of  the  hour.  Writers  who  had  a  political  question 
to  discuss,  or  a  concrete  political  proposition  of  any  sort  to 
maintain,  were  obliged  to  print  a  pamphlet  at  their  own 
risk,  and  their  own  cost.  The  magazines  had,  and  in  a 
measure  still  have,  no  hospitality  for  them.  And  on  the 
other  hand,  men  who  wished  to  bring  their  political  reading 
down  to  topics  and  controversies  less  remote  than  the 
Roman  Republic,  were  forced  to  buy  a  library  of  brochures, 
or  satisfy  themselves  with  the  more  hasty  and  superficial 
articles  of  the  daily  press. 

Of  this  state  of  things  Professor  Treitschke  has  been  cme 
of  the  most  successful  reformers.  It  would  be  inexact  to 
say  that  he  is  the  founder  of  the  critical  essay  in  Germany  ; 
but  he  has  given  it  greater  power  and  popularity,  and  he  has 
opened  to  it  one  entirely  new  class  of  subjects.  He  has 
dignified  and  exalted  the  issues  of  practical  politics,  by 
applying  to  them,  in  elaborate  essays,  all  the  literary 
graces  of  a  finished  writer,  the  ample  resources  of  a  Liberal 
and  accomplished  scholar,  and  the  critical  analysis  of  a 
philosophic  mind.  He  has  taught  his  countrymen  that 
the  problems  of  the  present  are  of  eternal  importance, 
and  that  the  thinker,  not  the  empiric,  must  find  the  solu- 
tion. His  success  is  shown  in  the  improved  character  of 
German  serials.  Although  they  still  want  the  boldness 
and  independence  that  our  prejudices  exact,  they  never- 
theless exhibit  a  growing  freshness  and  spirit,  which  the 
real  friend  of  Germany  must  observe  with  pleasure.  The 
essays  of  Treitschke  would  seem  to  be  taken  as  models, 
even  by  writers  who  could  not  attain,  and  do  not  aspire,  to 
their  excellence. 


244  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

Professor  Treitschke  does  not  always  proclaim  in  the 
titles  of  his  essays  their  relations  to  actual  issues.  He  has, 
on  the  contrary,  the  valuable  art  of  insinuiting  his  theories 
upon  the  reader,  of  enforcing  them  in  the  form  of  infer- 
ence and  deduction,  and  thereby  retaining  to  the  end  the 
charmed  attention  of  pedants,  who  abhor  a  concrete 
discussion.  Sometimes,  indeed,  the  subject  is  fear- 
lessly announced,  as  in  the  article  on  "Union  or  Confed- 
eration,"* or  in  the  one  upon  the  question  of  two  Cham- 
bers in  the  Prussian  Parliament,  f  More  commonly,  how- 
ever, he  gave  greater  breadth  and  dignity  to  his  political 
lessons  by  founding  them  upon  some  general  discussions 
in  history,  or  illustrating  them  from  certain  characters, 
which  are  to  be  imitated  or  abhorred.  Thus  his  sketch  of 
Wagenheim  was  merely  a  text  on  which  he  hung  a  masterly 
exposure  of  German  "Particularism,"  that  perverse  and 
demoralizing  element  in  the  politics  of  the  fatherland. 
The  same  is  true  of  his  different  articles  on  Italian,  French 
and  English  political  history.  From  each  of  these  subjects 
there  is  extracted  some  moral  or  lesson,  for  particular 
application  to  the  current  necessities  of  Prussian  or 
German  society. 

It  required  no  small  amount  of  courage  for  Professor 
Treitschke  to  take  a  chair  in  history,  at  the  University  of 
Berlin.  That  institution  already  counted  in  that  branch 
some  of  the  most  illustrious  scholars  of  the  present  day  ; 
such  men  as  Curtius  in  Greek,  and  Mommsen  in 
Roman  history,  Droysen,  in  modern  German  history,  and 

*  "  Einheitsstaat oder  Bundesstaat." 

\  "  Der Preiissische  Landtag  und  das  Zweikammersystem." 


TROFESSOR   VON   TREITSCHKE.  245 

the  name,  if  no  longer  the  active  participation,  of  the 
veteran  Ranke.  Droysen,  in  particular,  is  a  scholar  who, 
devoting  himself  to  the  same  general  class  of  subjects  as 
Treitschke,  has  many  of  the  same  literary  and  intellectual 
characteristics.  He  has  a  vivacious  style  and  a  clear  de- 
livery ;  his  Life  of  York,  and  other  works,  have  given  him 
deserved  authority  ;  and  he  is  a  favorite  lecturer  with  the 
younger  students.  Treitschke's  subjects  are  selected  from 
the  same  general  period,  but  his  method  of  treatment  is  less 
historical,  less  concrete  ;  in  a  word,  less  "  objective"  and 
more  abstract  or  speculative.  He  has  struck  out  for  him- 
self a  new  path  and  followed  it  with  brilliant  success.  He 
really  teaches  the  political  art  in  the  light  of  political 
history.  He  holds  a  position  midway  between  jurists 
who  expound  the  positive  ordinances  of  civil  government, 
and  historians  who  relate  events  in  lifeless  chronological 
order.  Already,  hisjecture  room  is  one  of  the  most  popu- 
lar in  the  institution.  His  style  and  manner  here  are 
less  objectionable  than  on  the  floor  of  Parliament.  The 
general  faults  of  his  delivery,  especially  such  as  are  insep- 
arable from  his  deafness,  are  never  wholly  conquered  ;  but 
in  the  clear  air  of  scholastic  work,  they  are  less  prominent, 
less  extravagantly  obtrusive,  than  amid  the  passions  and 
excitements  of  the  legislative  hall.  He  has  the  faculty,  so 
dear  to  teachers,  of  inspiring  his  pupils  with  enthusiasm, 
as  well  as  confidence. 

It  is  stated,  or  rumored,  that  Treitschke  will  not  always 
confine  his  historical  productions  to  the  modest  form  of 
essays,  but  that  a  great  work  may,  some  day,  be  expected 
from  his  pen.  This  is  described  as  a  history  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  in  Germany.     The  Gretizbofen  affirms  posi- 


246  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

tively  that  he  has  long  been  engaged  in  collecting  and  ar- 
ranging the  materials  for  such  a  work,  but  vouchsafes  no 
opinion  as  to  the  date  of  its  appearance.  The  period  is 
one  which  Treitschke  is  specially  qualified  to  treat,  and 
this  gives  the  report  a  certain  probability.  There  is, 
indeed,  every  reason  to  expect  frequent  and  even  more 
important  works  from  this  capable  writer  ;  and,  in  his  aca- 
demic career,  steady  progress  and  repeated  triumphs  un- 
doubtedly await  him.  That  the  same  may  be  predicated  of 
his  political  career,  is  less  certain.  An  ingenious  critic, 
much  esteemed  for  the  freshness  and  elegance  of  his  style, — 
a  debater  admired,  with  all  his  defects,  for  the  chivalric 
impetuosity  of  his  manner, — he  wants  many  of  the  qualities 
and  most  of  the  conditions  of  a  statesman.  This  is  the 
misfortune  of  Prussia,  but  it  is  a  misfortune  which  has  its 
sources  in  two  centuries  of  the  national  history. 

It  remains  to  add  that,  Professor  Treitschke,  if  a  genius, 
is  in  appearance  an  unkempt  genius.  He  is  a  large,  mas- 
sive man,  with  a  heavy  black  beard,  and  a  very  marked 
oriental  complexion.  His  gait,  though  rapid,  is  clumsy 
and  erratic;  and  in  all  his  movements  he  impresses  as  one 
who  has  an  excess  of  nervous  force.  If  his  large  head  sug- 
gests the  man  of  brain  and  thought,  the  broad  shoulders 
and  ample  chest  supply  the  physical  conditions  of  hard 
study  and  intense  endurance.  But  for  his  unfortunate 
deafness,  he  might  be  taken  as  a  model  of  that  even  devel- 
opment of  the  corporeal  and  the  spiritual,  that  mutual 
adaptation  of  mind  and  body,  of  which  a  Latin  phrase 
gives  the  happy  and  favorite  expression. 


XIX. 

Professor  von  Sybel. 


[HE  list  of  German  politicians,  who  have  also  a 
reputation  as  scholars  and  teachers,    may  fitly  be 
closed    with   Profsssor  von   Sybel.      But  it  is  far 
from  being  exhausted.      We  might  add  a  score  or  two  of 
names   but    little    less    important.      In    the   Reichstag,  for 
instance,  there  now  sit,  or  have  recently  sat,  such  men  as 
Dr.  Baumgarten,  the  famous  Liberal  theologian,  now  pro- 
fessor at  Rostock  ;   Dr.  Ewald,  the  great  Hebraist,  recently 
deceased  ;  Professor  Beseler,  a  jurist  in  the  Berlin  Univer- 
sity;   Dr.  Buss,  professor  at  Freiburg;    Professor  Hanel, 
of  Kiel  ;    Hinsphius,    the  great  authority  at  canon   law  ; 
Marquardsen,    of    Erlangen  ;    JMerkle,    professor    at    the 
Lyceum  at  Dillingen  ;    Robert  von   Mold,    the   publicist, 
recently   dead  ;    Oncken,  of  Geissen  ;  Schmidt,  of  Jena  ; 
von    Schulte,    of    Bonn  ;    Dr.     Tellkampf,     of    Breslau  ; 
besides  a  number  of  lesser  personages.     To  these  might  be 
added  several  other  scholars,  who  are  members  only  of  the 
Prussian,  or  other  separate  Legislatures.      The  deputies  are 


248  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 

paid  in  the  J^eic/is/ag  nothing,  in  the  local  parliaments  very 
little ;  and  the  conditions  of  legislative  work  here  are  such 
that  very  few  of  these  learned  men  can  hope,  thereby,  to 
add  much  to  their  scholastic  reputations.  That  they  are 
willing  to  leave  their  books  and  papers  for  the  service  of 
the  State,  and  that  the  electors  are  willing  to  elect  them 
over  the  professional  politicians,  is  equally  creditable  to 
both  parties.  It  may  be  true,  as  has  been  pretended,  that 
German  scholarship  will  suffer  from  this  circumstance. 
That  German  politics,  however,  are  elevated,  and  dignified, 
and  purified,  seems  to  me  beyond  dispute. 

It  must  be  admitted,  however,  that  not  even  the  strictest 
line  of  distinction  would  exclude  from  active  political 
work  a  student  and  professor  of  political  history,  and  such  a 
man  is  Heinrich  von  Sybel.  He  was  born  on  the  2d  of 
December,  1817,  at  Diisseldorf.  After  his  preparatory 
and  university  studies,  he  came  to  Berlin,  and  entered  the 
so-called  "Historical  Seminar}^,"  which  was  under  the  direc- 
tion of  Leopold  von  Ranke,  and  enjoyed  the  benefits  of 
his  great  authority.  Here  he  remained  four  years,  from 
1834  to  1838.  His  first  work  was  published  in  1841,  on 
his  return  to  Diisseldorf,  and  was  a  "History  of  the  First 
Crusade."  Its  object  was  to  prove  that  Peter  the  Hermit 
was  not  the  originator,  and  Godfrey  of  Bouillon  not  the 
leader  of  that  expedition.  A  controversial  rather  than  a 
historical  work,  it  had  interest  chiefly  for  scholars.  The 
product  of  a  young  man,  it  was,  also,  in  tone  and 
treatment,  a  product  of  the  school  from  which  he  came. 
Dr.  von  Ranke  was  very  successful  in  impressing  not  only  his 
method,  but  also  his  general  views  and  principles  upon  his 
young  admirers,  and  the  "school"  called  after  him,  is  ar^ 


PROFESSOR   VO^r   SYBEL.  249 

important  literary  phenomenon  in  Germany.  Von  Sybel  was 
less  nnder  the  influence  of  the  master  than  some  of  his 
colleagues,  and,  in  succeeding  works,  has  almost  wholly 
emancipated  himself. 

This  book  on  the  Crusades,  and  the  reputation  that  he 
won  under  Ranke,  led  to  von  Sybel's  appointment  at  Bonn, 
where  he  became  adjunct  professor  in  1844.  One  year 
later,  he  was  invited  to  Marburg,  as  regular  professor.  His 
entry  into  political  life  occurred  soon  afterwards.  The 
university  chose  him,  as  its  representative,  in  1847,  to  the 
Assembly  of  the  Hessian  Estates.  He  was  also  one  of 
the  Hessian  delegates  to  the  German  Parliament  at 
Erfurt.  In  both  these  assemblies  von  Sybel  was  classed  as 
a  Constitutional  Conservative,  a  strong  friend  of  German 
unity,  but  an  enemy  of  all  violent  measures. 

It  was  also  at  this  epoch,  that  von  Sybel's  literary  reputa- 
tion may  be  said  to  have  begun.  His  "History  of  the 
French  Revolution  "*  appeared  in  three  volumes,  during 
the  years  1853-57,  and  was  at  once  successful.  It  discard- 
ed the  graphic  and  picturesque  style  of  which  Johann  von 
Miiller  and  Frederic  von  Raumer  were  the  best  representa- 
tives, and  aiTected  rather  the  grave,  reflective,  analytic 
manner  of  Ranke,  It  was  critical,  concise,  judicial,  never 
discursive  for  the  sake  of  his  art,  and  it  seldom  wandered 
from  the  subject  to  paint  a  character  or  a  scene.  But  it  is 
not  heavy,  and  does  not  repel  the  ordinary  reader.  It  has 
already  passed  through  three  German  editions,  the  last  in 
1866,  and  has  been  translated  into  English,  French,  and 
most  European  tongues. 

*Gesckich(e  der  Revolutionszeit  in  Frattkreich. 
II* 


250  BRIEF   EIOGRAPIIIES. 

One  of  the  immediate  results  of  the  book  was  the 
author's  invitation  to  the  University  of  Munich,  a  sum- 
mons which  he  accepted.  In  this  dehghtful  resort  of  the 
Muses,  he  seems  to  have  enjoyed,  at  once,  the  honors  of  a 
scholar,  the  facilities  of  a  student,  and  the  opportunities  of 
a  teacher.  The  King,  Maximilian  II.,  himself  a  scholar, 
was  a  judicious  patron  of  art,  and  literature,  and  science  ; 
besides  making  von  Sybel  president  of  the  so-called  Royal 
Historical  Commission,  encouraged  the  organization  of  the 
Historical  Seminary,  which  von  Sybel  had  so  much  at 
heart,  and  entrusted  him  with  many  confidential  State 
charges.  If  the  professor  had  cared  only  for  academic 
honors  and  a  life  of  elegant  literary  retirement,  he 
might  have  remained  at  Munich  till  this  day.  It  is  more 
probable,  however,  that  the  old  feelings  of  a  Prussian 
never  forsook  him,  and  that  in  the  midst  of  the  comforts 
and  facilities,  which  he  enjoyed  at  that  place,  the  charms 
of  the  broader  political  life  in  his  native  State  proved  too 
strong  for  him.  Accordingly,  when,  in  1861,  an  oppor- 
tunity to  return  to  Bonn  was  opened,  he  hastened  to 
improve  it. 

His  return  to  political  life,  or  rather,  for  Prussia,  his 
entry  upon  political  life  followed  in  1862,  at  the  earliest 
legal  moment.  It  happened  to  coincide  pretty  nearly 
with  the  appointment  of  Bismarck- as  Minister  President. 
In  view  of  the  strenuous  opposition  which  he  made  to  the 
earlier  policy  of  that  ministry,  Wolfgang  Menzel  accuses  him 
of  ingratitude,  which  is  inexact,  for,  as  above  stated,  he  was 
called  to  Bonn  nearly  a  year  before  Bismarck  took  office, 
and  therefore,  owed  his  government  no  thanks.  It  was, 
perhaps,  magnanimous  in  the  government  not  to  dismiss 


PROFESSOR   VON   SYBEL.  251 

him  as  soon  as  his  dangerous  revolutionary  sentiments 
were  discovered.  In  those  days,  a  Liberal  could  not  be 
too  grateful  for  a  little.  But  the  fact  of  his  opposition  to 
the  unconstitutional  measures  of  the  ministry,  is,  to-day, 
one  of  the  things  of  which  Professor  von  Sybel  is  not 
least  proud. 

At  the  very  outset  of  his  parliamentary  career.  Professor 
von  Sybel  was  a  leading  actor  in  a  well-known  scene. 
Although,  in  form,  it  was  only  a  personal  altercation  be- 
tween him  and  the  IMinister  of  War,  Count  von  Roon,  it 
involved,  in  fact,  a  question  of  principle,  of  parliamentary 
law,  which,  to  this  day,  has  not  been  finally  settled.  One 
of  the  most  characteristic  incidents  of  the  long  struggle 
between  Bismarck's  Ministry  and  the  House  of  Deputies, 
it  well  deserves  to  be  explained  in  this  place.  It  has  already 
been  briefly  mentioned. 

It  was  on  the  nth  of  May,  1863.  The  House  had  just 
been  convened  after  a  long  recess,  and  the  usual  angry  and 
boisterous  scenes  had  been  renewed.  General  von  Roon 
had  made  an  appeal  to  the  patriotism  of  the  House,  in 
behalf  of  the  army  reform,  when  von  Sybel  replied  scorn- 
fully, that  the  War  Minister  had  no  right  to  speak  of 
patriotism.  He  had  done  more  than  any  other  to  alter 
the  conditions  of  public  law  in  Prusssia.  If,  for  the  first 
time  in  his  career,  he  wished  to  do  a  patriotic  thing,  let 
him  retire  from  the  ministry.  The  War  IMinister  answered: 
"When  such  personal  remarks  are  made  against  a  member 
of  the  ministr3\  it  is  an  unjustifiable  aggression."  The 
President  of  the  House  interrupted  the  minister,  and  by 
means  of  his  bell,  supported  by  the  clamors  of  the  major- 
ity, forced  him  to  silence.     Then    he   explained  :     "The 


252  BRIEF   BIOGRAPHIES. 


War  Minister  had  no  right  to  call  the  remark  of  Professor 
von  Sybel  an  unjustifiable  aggression.  It  belonged  only  to 
him,  the  president,  to  censure  those  remarks,  if  he  found 
them  censurable.  He  had  not  done  that,  however,  for 
Herr  von  Sybel  was  fully  within  his  rights."  The  War 
Minister  protested  against  the  violence  of  the  House, 
v/hereupon  new  tumult  followed.  Finally,  the  president 
was  forced  to  suspend  the  sitting,  and,  as  is  usual  in  such 
cases,  he  reached  out  for  a  hat  to  cover  himself,  but,  as 
the  hat  happened  not  to  be  his  own,  but  another  much 
too  large  for  him,  it  fell  down  over  his  ears,  to  the  great 
amusement  of  the  deputies.  The  tragedy  was  nearly  con- 
verted into  a  comedy. 

But  this  was  not  the  end  of  the  matter.  The  govern- 
ment denied  absolutely  the  disciplinary  power  of  the 
President  of  the  House  over  the  ministers,  and  declared 
that  they  would  attend  no  more  sessions  until  their  exemp- 
tion from  the  restraints  of  parliamentary  law  was  expressly 
acknowledged.  This  was,  of  course,  impossible.  The 
House  replied  with  an  address  to  the  King,  which  not  only 
justified  the  conduct  of  its  president,  but  called  for  the 
immediate  dismissal  of  the  ministers.  The  King  replied, 
on  the  26th  of  the  month,  with  an  autograph  letter,  not 
countersigned  by  a  single  minister.  An  extract  or  two 
from  this  docujnent  will  give  an  interesting  illustration  of 
the  royal  prerogative,  as  it  was  understood  by  his  majesty, 
and  will  show  the  almost  impossible  gulf  which  separated 
him  from  the  deputies.  "Prussia's  Kings,"  he  wrote, 
"  live  in  and  with  their  people,  and  have  a  clear  eye  and  a 
warm  heart  for  the  real  needs  of  the  country.  About  the 
proceedings  in  the  session  of  INIay  nth,   I   was  accurately 


PROFESSOR   VON   SYBEL.  253 

and  faithfully  informed.  The  fact  is  clear,  that  the  chairman 
not  only  interrupted  one  of  my  ministers,  and  forced  him 
to  silence,  but  also  prevented  him,  by  a  sudden  adjourn- 
ment, from  subsequently  speaking.  This  act  can  only  be 
interpreted  on  the  theory  that  it  was  an  application  of  the 
disciplinary  power  of  the  president."  Such  a  claim  his 
majesty  repelled,  and  after  some  further  observations,  con- 
cluded :  "My  ministers  possess  my  confidence,  their 
official  acts  had  my  approval,  and  I  am  grateful  to  them 
that  they  feel  the  importance  of  opposing  the  unconstitu- 
tional usurpation  of  the  House  of  Deputies." 

This  was  the  royal  view  of  constitutional  government  in 
Prussia,  in  the  year  1863.  It  is  not  a  little  to  the  credit  of 
a  man  like  von  Sybel,  whose  position  at  Bonn  depended 
on  the  favor  of  the  government,  that  he  was  willing,  pub- 
licly and  persistently,  to  oppose  that  view. 

After  this  incident,  the  House  was  dissolved  by  the  gov- 
ernment, and  new  elections  were  ordered  for  the  Autumn 
of  the  same  year.  They  resulted,  as  usual,  in  strong  Lib- 
eral majorities.  Professor  von  Sybel  was  also  re-elected  for 
the  district  of  Crefeld.  In  the  Spring  of  the  next  year,  1864, 
a  disease  of  his  eyes,  which  had  long  troubled  him,  became 
too  serious  for  longer  participation  in  active  legislative 
work,  and  he  was  obliged  to  resign. 

Since  the  appearance  of  his  French  History,  in  part  at 
Bonn,  in  part  at  INIarburg,  and  in  part  at  Munich,  he  has 
published  a  number  of  less  pretentious  historical  treatises, 
which  deserve  to  be  mentioned.  I  shall  simply  give  their 
titles  in  English  :  "The  Origin  of  German  IMonarchy, " 
1845  ;  "The  Spuriousness  of  the  so-called  Sacred  Robe 
at  Treves,"  1845;     "The  Uprising     of    Europe   against 


254  BRIEF   BIOGRArHIES. 

Napoleon  I,"  i860;  "Prince  Eugene  of  Savo}',"  1861  ; 
"The  German  Nation  and- the  Empire,"  1863  ;  and  a  col- 
lection called  "Minor  Historical  Writings,"  1863. 

In  the  year  1867,  immediately  after  the  war  with  Austria, 
von  Sybel  returned  to  political  life.  The  district  Lennep- 
Mettmann  sent  him  to  the  so-called  Constituent  Reichstag, 
which  was  summoned  by  Prussia  to  lay  the  foundations  of  the 
North  German  Confederation,  and  to  confirm  on  an  impos- 
ing scale  the  truce  concluded  between  the  majority  and  the 
government.  Von  Sybel  was,  as  we  have  seen  in  1863, 
one  of  the  most  resolute  opponents  of  Bismarck's  policy. 
In  1867,  he  was  not  one  of  the  irreconcilables.  He  joined 
the  National  Liberals  and  voted  steadily,  though  not  slav- 
ishly with  them  ;  and  his  profound  historical  knowledge 
gave  him  peculiar  authority  in  the  reconstruction  of  Ger- 
many. He  did  not  accept  an  election  to  the  Legislative 
Parliament.  His  third  term  of  political  service  ended 
here. 

His  fourth  and  present  term  began  with  the  existing  Za«6^- 
tag  of  Prussia,  which  was  elected  in  1874.  Professor  von 
Sybel  is  the  delegate  of  a  district  near  Magdeburg.  When 
he  took  his  seat,  the  ecclesiastical  conflict  had  been  in  pro- 
gress three  years,  and  though  the  spirit  of  the  Catholics 
was  not  broken,  and  a  number  of  measures  were  still  threat- 
ened, the  freshness  of  the  subject  had  departed,  and  the 
people  were  becoming  weary  of  it.  Even  Professor  von  Sybel 
had  been  active  with  his  pen.  From  his  retreat,  at  Bonn, 
which  is  a  semi-Catholic  university,  he  had  already  sent  out 
a  number  of  pamphlets  in  which  the  pretensions  of  the 
Church  were  exposed,  and  the  rights  of  the  State  vindicat- 
ed with  the  resources  of  an  historical  scholar,  and  the  vigor 


PROFESSOR   VON   SYBEL.  255 

of  an  earnest  patriot.  These  had  been  accompanied,  also, 
by  public  discourses,  articles  in  the  leading  periodicals,  and, 
above  all,  by  his  contributions  to  the  Hisiorische  Zcilschrift, 
of  which  he  was  and  remains  the  editor.  An  account  of 
these  and  other  papers  will  be  given  in  another  place. 

Two  leading  anti-clerical  measures  have,  however,  been 
introduced  since  von  Sybel's  return  to  the  House  ;  and,  in 
the  debates  which  preceded  their  adoption,  he  was  one  of 
the  most  frequent  and  successful  speakers.  The  measures 
were:  first/ to  dissolve  and  abolish  all  Catholic  religious 
orders  and  congregations,  except  purely  benevolent  ones  ; 
and,  secondjto  suspend  all  State  contributions  for  the  sup- 
port of  the  Roman  Catholic  worship.  These  were,  by  far, 
the  most  sweeping  bills  in  the  long  course  of  ecclesiastical 
legislation.  In  Professor  von  Sybel  the  Ultramontanes  found 
an  antagonist  of  a  new  order.  Most  of  the  Liberal  speak- 
ers were  either  learned  doctors  without  the  experience  and 
method  ofpoli-tics,  or' practical  politicians  without  the  ne- 
cessary special  training  for  the  subject  ;  but  the  new  mem- 
ber was  at  once  a  scholar  and  a  man  of  the  world,  a 
debater  who  could  meet  the  foe  on  the  field  of  ecclesiasti- 
cal law,  or  the  field  of  secular  politics. 

In  the  present  month,  March,  1876,  an  additional  or 
supplementary  bill  was  presented.  It  regulates,  or  rather 
provides  for  the  control  by  the  State,  of  the  estates  and 
funds  of  such  Catholic  dioceses,  as  may  be  without  their 
episcopal  head.  There  are  several  such  in  Prussia,  made 
vacant  by  the  removal  of  the  bishops,  under  the  operation 
of  the  State  laws,  and  kept  vacant  by  the  refusal  of  the 
Pope  to  appoint  successors.  The  pending  bill  is,  there- 
fore, only  a  logical  consequence  of  previous  legislation. 


256  BRIEF   BIOGRArniES. 

It  is,  however,  a  singular  feature  of  these  clerical  debates, 
that  they  are  never  special,  but  general.  They  do  not 
turn  upon  the  merits  or  defects  of  the  particular  measure 
before  the  House,  but  upon  the  general  issues  involved  in 
the  quarrel  between  Church  and  State.  This  will  be  illus- 
trated in  the  following  extract  from  the  speech  of  Professor 
von  Sybel,  on  the  7th  of  March.  I  give  it  with  all  the 
interruptions  and  altercations,  as  a  picture  of  the  ecclesi- 
astical contest. 

"  I  am  glad  to  be  able  to  state,"  said  Professor  Sybel,  "  that  I  en- 
tirely agree  with  some  sentiments  of  the  honorable  gentleman  who 
preceded  me.  The  first  point  of  agreement  is,  that  this  bill  will  be  ac- 
cepted by  the  House.  Next,  that  this  bill,  as  well  as  that  of  last  year 
about  the  Parish  Funds,  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  inner  affairs  of 
the  Church.  From  this  standpoint  all  the  Falk  laws  were  issued, 
and  they  have  the  one  aim,  to  draw  the  line  between  Church  and 
State,  in  a  healthy  and  normal  manner,  and  to  re-establish  in 
Prussia  the  inalienable  rights  of  the  State,  which,  through  a  narrow 
and  false  policy,  had  fallen  into  neglect.  The  honorable  deputy 
sighs  :  '  Since  the  beginning  of  this  contest,  we  Roman  Catholics 
have  not  been  treated  as  citizens  of  the  State,  but  as  aliens.'  This 
pluralis  majesiatis,  '  we  Roman  Catholics,'  is  with  you  a  fluent  figure 
of  speech.  You  always  act  as  if  there  were  no  Roman  Catholics  in 
the  countiy,  except  you  and  your  friends.  Yet,  Dr.  Falk,  during 
his  travels  through  the  Rhenish  towns,  was  able  to  see  very  clearly 
how  many  Roman  Catholics  there  are,  who  are  not  at  all  of  your 
opinion  ('  Oh ! '  in  the  center)  ;  who  do  not  consider  themselves 
aliens,  and  are  not  treated  as  such.  The  question  might  be  perti- 
nent with  a  great  many  of  your  party:  Are  they,  in  any  sense,  still 
children  of  the  State?  Do  they  still  consider  themselves  subjects  of 
the  Prussian  Crown?  Are  they  not  simply  subjects  of  his  Papal 
Holiness,  and  no  one  else?  ('Oh! 'and  laughter  in  the  center.) 
This  fact  runs  parallel  with  a  set  of  principles  which  we  have  often 
heard  expressed  by  you.     So  much  is  certain,  that  if  you  answer  my 


PROFESSOR  VON   SYBEL.  257 

question  with  a  dry,  '  No'  ;  if  you  declare  '  No,  we  are  only  subjects 
of  the  Pope  in  ecclesiastical  matters,  in  other  matters  we  are  not' 
{Herr  Reichensperger :  '  Undoubtedly  !'),  then  you  would  certainly 
receive  from  Rome  a  very  prompt  rectification.  (Merriment.) 
Then  read  the  semi-official  organ  of  the  Roman  Curia,  the  Voce  della 
Veiith.  You  have  praised,  in  all  your  organs,  the  latest  literary 
production  of  the  Reichensperger  Muse,  this  so-called  '  Word  for 
Peace.'  Whoever  has  read  that  interesting  little  book,  feels  con- 
vinced that  all  these  peaceful  proposals  amount  solely  to  the 
subjection  of  the  State  under  the  Church.  Yet,  it  is  announced  in 
form  and  title  as  a  '  Word  for  Peace  ! '  Now  notice  how  the  Voce  della 
Veiita  expresses  itself  upon  this  work  for  peace,  and  the  Reichen- 
sperger pamphlet.  Just  notice  how,  here  from  high  places,  the 
author  is  being  lectured.  (Laughter  from  the  left.)  Read  how  he  is 
enjoined,  for  the  future,  to  correct  his  conceptions  of  Prussian  rela- 
tions, and  not  to  cherish  the  illusion  that  there  could  ever  exist  a 
Hohenzollern  who  was  not  a  bom  enemy  of  the  Romish  Church. 
('  Hear  ! '  from  the  left. )  Or  read  the  Civilta  Cattolica,  this  organ 
established  by  his  Holiness  himself,  and  always  controlled  by  him. 
(Cry  :  '  That  is  not  true.')  That  is  certainly  true,  the  official  docu- 
ments have  been  published.  In  the  October  number  of  last  year 
you  can  read  the  simple  sentences :  '  Whoever  hears  the  Pope,  hears 
God.  We  must  not  only  obey  him  unconditionally  in  act,  but  also 
in  thought  and  will.'  There  is  no  reference  to  any  kind  of  differ- 
ence between  religious  and  civil  actions.  This  arch-sovereign  up- 
holds his  claims  to  his  mediseval  sovereignty  to-day,  as  at  all  times. 
If  the  honorable  gentleman  who  has  just  spoken  is  right,  that 
through  the  law  valid  until  now.  Archbishop  Forster  was  absolutely 
authorized  to  carry  oiT  900,000  marks  across  the  frontier,  then, 
indeed,  I  do  not  know  of  a  more  forcible  argument  for  the  necessity 
of  changing  this  legalized  condition  of  things.  (' Very  true  ! ')  I 
perfectly  agree  with  Herr  Reichensperger,  that  the  Ministers 
Raumer  and  Midler  were  not  only  passive  lookers-on  at  the  growth 
of  this  system,  which  at  last,  in  our  time,  forced  the  State  into  defense, 
but  they  also  carried  eagerly,  with  their  own  hands,  bricks  for  the 
edifice  of  ecclesiastical  sovereignty.     We  regret  this  from  the  depth 


258  BRIEF  BIOGRAPHIES. 

of  our  heart,  for,  without  such  conduct  on  the  part  of  the  govern- 
ment of  that  time,  there  would,  at  present,  have  been  no  occasion 
for  any  Kulturkampf  (ecclesiastical  contest).  But  the  more  mis- 
takes that  were  made  on  all  sides,  at  those  times,  the  more  pressing  is 
the  duty  to-day,  after  the  consequences  have  so  plainly  come  to  light, 
at  last,  to  put  a  stop  to  it,  and,  in  the  interest  of  the  nation  and 
of  the  State,  to  return  to  the  former  condition  and  earlier  system." 

Professor  von  Sybel  is  an  industrious  pamphleteer.  I 
have  a  number  of  his  brochures  before  me,  and  a  long  list 
of  others  which  have  appeared  within  the  past  few  years. 
Some  of  them  are  on  literary  or  abstract  questions  ;  one  or 
two  are  historical  dissertations,  of  more  or  less  permanent 
value  ;  and  some  are  on  the  political  issues  of  the  day. 
Under  the  first  class,  for  instance,  must  be  named  the 
following:  "On  the  Laws  of  Historical  Knowledge," 
"The  German  and  Foreign  Universities,"  "On  the 
Emancipation  of  Women,"  "The  Founding  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Bonn,"  and  "At  the  Monumgnt  to  Stein."  The 
second  will  include  :  "On  the  Development  of  Absolute 
Monarchy  in  Prussia,"  "Prussia  and  Rhineland,"  and 
"Napoleon  III."  This  latter  pamphlet  was  made  up  of 
two  lectures  delivered  at  Cologne,  in  the  year  1873,  and  it 
was  widely  read  and  criticised  at  the  time  of  its  appearance. 
Finally  the  third  class,  or  controversial  writings,  comprise, 
among  others,  the  following :  "The  New  Germany,  and 
France,  Letter  to  M.  Forcade,  in  Paris,"  "What  we 
can  learn  from  France,"  and  "The  Doctrines  of  Socialism 
and  Communism."  None  of  these  productions  are 
popular  in  style  and  treatment,  but  they  have  obtained, 
most  of  them,  a  wide  circulation. 

About  a  year  since,  Professor  von  Sybel  was  appointed 


PROFESSOR   VON   SYBEL.  259 

keeper  of  the  Archives  of  Prussia.  TJjis  is  one  of  the 
most  confidential  and  responsible  positions  which  a  man 
of  letters  can  hold,  under  the  Prussian  or  any  other  gov- 
ernment of  Europe,  and  the  distinction  is,  of  course, 
highly  prized.  It  necessitated  the  resignation  of  the  pro- 
fessorship at  Bonn,  and  the  professor's  removal  to  Berlin. 
Since  he  has  held  the  position,  he  has  not  only  made 
many  useful  practical  reforms,  but  he  has  also  agitated  one 
literary,  or  rather  historical  scheme  of  the  greatest  import- 
ance. This  is  nothing  less  than  the  publication  of  the 
political  correspondence  of  Frederic  the  Great.  This  has 
lain  buried  for  years  among  the  State  papers,  and  it  is  now 
proposed  to  publish  it  to  the  world.  The  arrangement  of 
the  work  would  probably  be  under  the  general  supervision 
of  Professor  von  Sybel.  The  cost  of  the  undertaking — no 
slight  sum,  in  view  of  the  thirty  or  more  volum'es  which 
the  correspondence  would  fill — has  been  accepted  by  the 
Berlin  Academy  of  Sciences,  a  body  whose  enlightened 
labors  have  already  placed  the  learned  world  under  great 
obligations. 


THE    END. 


h 


INDEX. 


A. 

Albert,  Prince  (of  Prussia),  97. 

Alsace-Lorraine,  173,  196. 

Alsatian  Party,  the.  192,  193. 

Altenstein,  Baron,  28. 

Andrew,  J.  A.,  44. 

Arnim,  Count  Henry  vok,  Memoir, 

73;  also,  67,  69,  70,  193. 
Arnim,  Heiurich  von,  74,  75. 
Arnim-Boytzenberg,  Coujit,  87. 
Army,  German,  9,  14,  29,  126,  209,  210. 
Assembly,  French,  15. 
Assembly  of  the  Estates  (German),  5. 
Atheism,  31. 

Austria,  Archduke  John  of,  41,  51, 
Austria,  Emperor  of,  64. 

B. 

Bamhereer,  Louis,  120, 

Bank  Act,  Peel's,  5.5. 

Banks,  46,  50.  153,  157. 

Barba^ossa,  Frederick,  114. 

Baumgarten,  Dr..  247. 

Bebftl,  Herr,  17?,  180.  181,  187,  200. 

Becker,  Herr,  180,  181. 

Bknniosen,  Herr  vok,  Memoir,  91  • 
also,  114,  120,  193. 

Beseler,  Professor,  247. 

Bismarck,  Bemhard,  2. 

Bismarck,  Clans  von,  1. 

Bismarck,  C.  W.  F.  von,  1. 

Bismarck,  Herbert  von,  5. 

Bismarck,  Maldewine  von,  3. 

Bismarck,  Marie  von.  5. 

Bismarck,  Prince,  Memoir,  1  :  also 
2.  25,  27,  28,  29,  33,  34,  40,  41,  57, 
62,  65,  67,  69,  70,  75,  77,  78,  79,  80 
81.  82,  83,  84,  85,  86,  92,  99,  100 
108,  109,  114,  124,  127,  128,  1.30. 1.32 
13.3,  134,  136,  137,  1.38,  1.39,  1.55, 170 
173,  180,  193,  212,  222,  226,  2-35.  237 
240,  251,  254. 

Bismarck,  Rnle  von,  1. 

Bismarck,  Wilhelm  von,  5, 

Blind,  Carl,  19. 

Hon.i-Me3'er,  Professor,  37 

Bonaparte,  Louis  Napoleon  (Napoleon 
in.),  8,  11,  141,254. 


Boniface,  St.,  130. 

Bonin,  Deputy  von,  209. 

Brachvojel,    Herr,    62,    71,    72,    101. 

102,  103,  106. 
Brandenl)iirg,  Count  von,  167,  168. 
Brann.  Carl,  120. 
Bray,  Count  von,  68. 
Brpntano,  Herr.  104. 
Bright,  John,  140. 
Buckingham,  Senator,  108. 
Bundes-Staat,  51,  244. 
Buudesrath  (Federal  Council),  39,  45, 

40. 
Burke,  Edmund,  8.5,  185, 
Buss,  Professor,  247. 

c. 

CAirPHAUSEN,  Herr,  Memoir,  49 :  also. 

40, 46,  47,  48.  127.  193. 
Camphausen.  Otto,  50. 
Canosi^a,  13,  63. 
Chancellor,  the,  91. 
Charite,  the,  217,  221. 
Chevalier,  Michel,  48. 
Church,  Evangelical,  225. 
Church,  Roman  Catholic,  16,  28    .30 

32,  .36,   66,  67,   196,  207,   254,  '255, 

256. 
Cobden,  Richard,  48. 
Coffin,  Amory,  3. 
Confederation,  North  German,  11.  12, 

27,  66,  97,  109,  115,  142,  2.30,  2.54. 
Confederation,  South  German,  11. 
Conflikts-Zeit,  119,  228. 
Conservatives.  46.  189,  193. 
Constitution,  Prussian,  36. 
Coriolaniis,  18. 
Credit-Foncier,  116. 
Crusade,  History  of  First.  248,  249. 
Culturkampf,  the,  196.  228;  258. 
Cultus-Minister,  33.  37,  226. 
Curtius,  Professor  Ernst,  244. 

D. 

Delbbdck.  Dr.,  Memoir,  39  ;  also.  55 

121,  127. 
Deputies,  House  of,  31  42,  5.3,  93,. 99, 

107,  115,  122,  252. 


262 


INDEX. 


Dent?che  National  Verein,  93,  94,  96, 

98. 
Diet.  Frankfort,  7,  12,  41. 
I»israeli,  B.,  llti. 
DOllintrer.  Dr..  77. 
Dro}-sen,  Professor,  244.  245 
Duchies,  the,  10.  -ZH,  237. 
Daucker,  Herr,  14b. 

E. 

Ecclesiastical  Party,  30. 

Education,  28.  190. 

Education,  Minister  of,  37,  219. 

Eichhorn,  C.  F.,  2S.  62. 

Emerson,  R.  W.,  122. 

Empire,  German,  14,  15,  16,  •^,  01,  62, 

176. 
Empire  (French),  Second,  20. 
Essays.  German  Literary,  24.3. 
En<^ene,  Prince  of  Savov,  254. 
Eulenburu',  Count,  188,  190. 
Ewald,  Dr.,  -^47. 
Exchequer,  Prussian,  53. 

F. 

Talk,  Dr.,  Memoir,  25:  also,  42,  43. 

47.  127,  130,  l>-7,  193,  256. 
Talk,  the  elder.  ;i5. 
Father-',  Church,  32. 
Fau-t,  19. 
Faustle,  Herr,  40. 
Favre,  Jules,  241. 
Fertewi  Council,  57. 
Forbade,  M.,  2.>S. 
Forckenbeck,  Herr,  25,  43,  98,  99,  105, 

120. 
FfSrster,  Arch-Bishop,  257. 
Forsler,  -John,  140. 
Fortschritts  partei  (party  of  progress), 

114,  193. 
Fracrlons  (German  parties),  192,  193, 

205. 
Franklin,  Dr.,  199. 
Free  Consen'atives,  193. 
Free  Trade,  48 
Friedrich  Wilhelin   (III.),    Emperor, 

6,  161,  16.5,  214. 
Friedrich   Wilhelm    (TV.),    Emperor, 

6.  8,  27.  40,  50,  75,  96, 104,  161,  162, 

167.  218. 
Fries.  Herr  (of  Weimar),  96. 
French  Kevolution,  History  of,  249. 

G. 

Gartenlanbe,  the,  9-3. 

Geheimerath,  27. 

Georjre.  King  (of  Hanover),  94. 


Gerlach,  Herr,  19. 

'•  German  Nation  and  Empire,"  264. 

German  Pany,  the,  193. 

Gisbert,  Dnke,  63. 

Gladstone,  W.  E.,  44. 

Gneist,    Professor,    Memoir,    203; 

also,  as.  1.30.  227.  231. 
Goethe,  J.  W.  von,  19,  65,  232. 
Gagern,  Heinrich  von,  104. 
GOrlach,  Herr,  2. 
Grabow,  Herr,  105. 
Gravelotie,  Battle  of,  15. 
Grollmann.  Herr,  164. 
Guizot,  Frederic,  109. 

H. 

Handelsgericht    (Tribunal    of    Com 

nierce).  50. 
nanel.  Professor,  247. 
Harries.  Count.  95. 
Hasenclever,  Herr,  177,  181.  187. 
Hassklmasn,    Herr,    Memoir,    176; 

also.  193,  199,  200. 
Hatzfeld,  Couutcs.*,  178. 
Hausser,  Herr.  -ZVi,  'iAt. 
Havelberg,  Bishop  <>f,  1. 
He-el,  G.  W.  F.,  136. 
Heine.  Heinrich,  178. 
Heinrich  IV.  (Emperor),  6-3. 
llengstenberg.  E.  W.,  225. 
Hermann  Dr.,  35. 
Hermann  the  Illustrious,  6-3. 
UeiTenhaua  (Chamber  of  Peers),  56, 

9S. 
Hevdt.  Baron  von  der,  51,  52. 
Hi^gin.son,  T.  W..  122. 
Hiuschius,  Professor,  247. 
Hohenlohe,  Cardinal,  64. 
HoHENLOHE.    Pbince.    Mcmoir,   61* 

also.  73.  97.  114.  193. 
Hohenldha,  C.  C.  V.,  63,  64. 
Hohenlohe.  P.  E..  64.  71. 
Hohenlohe,  Siegfried,  6-3. 
Hohenlohe,  Stephan,  71. 
Holhveg,  Herr,  29. 
Holtzendortr,  Professor  von,  232. 
Hoverbeck.  Herr,  228. 
Humboldt,  Wilhelm  von,  41. 

I. 

Indemnity  paid  by  France,  54. 
International,  the,  177,  179. 
Itzenplitz,  Count,  123. 


Jacobt,  Johann,  Dr..  Memoir,  160 
also,  104,  105,  146,  193. 


INDEX. 


263 


Jews,  199,  200. 
Judd,  Dr.,  146. 
Jung.  Dr.  A.,  164 

Junkers  (Conservatives),  6, 17, 19,  80, 
84,  125,  139, 141. 

K. 

Kaiser,  17. 
Kamecke,  Herr,  40. 
Kainmergericht,  the,  27. 
King,  M.  G.,  3. 
King,  the,  15,  66,  68,  69, 114 
Krementz,  Dr.,  29. 
Kreuz  Zeitung,  IS. 
Kullman,  19. 


Labor  organizations.  150.    See  Unions. 

Landtag,  the  (Prussian  Diet).  7,  35, 
56,  04,  66.  106,  109,  116,  127,  155, 
168,  192,  209,  221,  244,  254. 

Landwehr,  126.  209.  210.  223. 

Lassalle.  Ferdinand,  153,  154, 178,  179, 
184,  188. 

Lasker.  Eduard,  Memoir,  113:  also, 
33.  99,  132,  160,  188,  193. 

Leubuscher,  Dr.,  ■■i\t. 

Leonhardt,  Dr.,  27.  40. 

Liberal  Party,  9,  10,  12, 17,  18,  19,  30, 
32,  33,  46,  52,  77,  83,  95,  98,  103, 
106,  11.3,  114,  115,  119,  120,  122,  127, 
128.  129,  130,  155,  18H,  193,  236. 

Liebnicht,  Herr.  177.  180,  181,  199. 

Lincoln,  Abraham.  144. 

LoEWE,  Dr.,  Memoir,  1.39;  also,  96, 
104,  155,  160,  165,  170,  193. 

Lorrainp,  173. 

Lowe,  Robert,  49. 

Luther,  Martin,  141. 

Lutheranism,  .35. 

M. 

Mallinckrodt,  Herr,  32,  129,  130,  136. 

Manteuffel,  Herr,  8,  74,  75,  104. 

Marat,  J.  P.,  182.  183,  185. 

Mariana,  J.  de,  33. 

Marquardsen.  Professor,  247. 

Marx,  Carl,  179,  180. 

Maximilian,  11.,  250. 

Mechanics'  Fund,  198. 

Mechanics'  Union,  230. 

Menken,  Franlein,  2. 

Menzel,  Wolfgang,  170,  171,  209,  250. 

Merkle,  Professor,  247. 

Metz,  173. 

Meyer,  Dr.  Rudolph,  182 


Miguel,  Herr,  95,  96. 

Ministry,  Austrian,  10. 

Mini.«try  of  Public  Worship  and  Eda 

cation,  28. 
Mint  and  Currency  Bill,  196. 
Mohl,  Robert  von,  227. 
Moltke,  General  von,  9,  15,  20. 
Mommsen,  Prof.  Theodor,  244. 
Monarchy,  German,  Origin  of,  253, 
Monier,  James,  150. 
Motley,  J.  L.,  3. 
Morton,  Senator,  92. 
Muhler,  Dr.  von,  28,  29,  34. 
Miiller,  Johann  von,  249. 
Muller,  Max,  203. 

N 

Navarre,  Henry  of,  .33. 
Nicholas  (of  Russia),  19. 
Niebiihr,  B.  G.,  102. 

o. 

Oncken,  Professor,  247. 
Oppenheim,  Heinrich,  120. 


Palmer,  Sir  Roundell,  108. 
Palraerston,  Lord,  44. 
Parliament,  Erfurt,  56. 
Parliament,  German.    <%«  Reichstag. 
Particularism  (States-rights),  69,  235, 

244. 
Parties,  German,  analyzed,  193. 
People's  Economic  Congress,  198. 
Pertz,  Dr.,  214. 
Peter  the  Hermit,  248. 
Pfardten,  Minister  von  der,  66. 
Pfnel,  Herr  von,  167. 
Phillips,  Wendell,  341. 
Pius  IX.,  29,  67. 
Polish  party,  193. 
Pope,  the,  17. 

Progress  Party,  146,  155, 193,  231. 
Prussia,  Bank  of,  56. 
Prussia,  Kings  of,  252. 
"  Public  Ledger,"  the  (Philadelphia's. 
Public  Worship,  Minister  of,  34. 
Putbus,  Prince,  125,  126. 
Puikammer,  Johanna  von,  5. 

Q. 

Quevedo,  F.  G.  de,  124. 


R. 


Rabble,  the,  183. 
Radicals,  222. 


264 


INDEX. 


Itanke,  Leopold  von,  248.  349. 

Ralibor,  Duke  of,  64. 

Hmiincr,  Herr  von,  a9. 

Kuiimur,  Frederic  von,  165,    219,  257. 

Itiich,  Judge,  8.3. 

Eeiclu'usperger,  Herr,  32,  129,  131, 
136,  S57. 

Reicht^kanzler  (Chancellor),  100. 

R<--".hspartei,  103. 

Kei.-.iiMath,  64,  65. 

Iteichstag,  the  (Imperial  Parliament), 
16,  25,  43.  46.  53,  99.  109,  110,  115, 
120,  1-a,  122,  127,  1-32,  133,  137,  141, 
146,  1.50,  1.56,  1.59,  176,  177.  186,191, 
1-92,  193,  194,  1!)5,  196,  2U7,  209,228, 
247,  248.  250.  2.52. 

Reich!?t,ag  (North  German),  31, 97, 234. 

Reinhardt,  Dr.,  217. 

Revolution  of  1848  (Prussian),  208. 

Ring,  iMas,  132. 

Roon,  General  von.  9,  15,  16,  106,  125, 
210. 

Rotteck,  Herr,  162. 

Royer-Colliird,  P.  P.,  108, 

Russell,  Earl,  13,  121. 


S. 


Sadowa,  Battle  of,  11,  18,  65,  98, 109, 

119,  171,  230. 
Santa  Clara,  32. 
Savigny,  F.  C.  von,  102. 
Staaten-Bund,  51. 

Sayn-Wittgimstein,  Princess  of,  71. 
Schiller,  Friedrich  von.  32. 
Schleiermacher,  P.  D.  E.,  2,  35. 
Schmidt,  Professor,  247. 
Schmoller,  Gustave,  238. 
Scliiit'lder.  Dr.  P.,  157. 
Scholars  in  Politics,  201,  247. 
SchOn,  Minister  von,  163,  251,  252. 
SchOnlein,  Dr.,  217,  227. 
Schorlemtr,  Herr,  136. 
Schulte,  Professor  von,  120,  247. 
Schulze-Delitzscii,  Ueuk.  Jlomoir, 
*        148 ;  also,  96,  160,  178, 193,  199,  203, 

204. 
Schvi'eitzcr,  Herr  von,  180,   181,  182 

183. 
Schwerin.  Herr,  105. 
Science  and  Religion,  238. 
Science,  Social,  235. 
Sedan,  Battle  of,  15,  172. 
Se«-IIaudlung.  51,  52. 
SiMSON,  Dr.,  Memoir,  101;    also,  25, 

99,  114,  120,  193. 
Social-democrat  ic  Party,  177,  182,  183 

186,  189,  197.  -  . 


Socialism,  183,  185,  187,  188,  193,  195, 

210. 
SoNNKJiANN,  Dn.,  Memoir,  192. 
Spinoza.  ]{.,  165. 
Stalil,  J.  F.,  28,  225. 
Stahr,  Adolph,  169. 
Stein.  Baron  von,  210,  211,  213,  214, 

227. 
Stevens,  Thaddeus,  138. 
Streit,  Feodor,  96. 
Striive,  Herr,  104. 
Suffrage,  Universal,  192. 
Si'BKL,  PaoFESsoR  VON,  Memoir,  247. 

T. 

Tellkampf.  Professor,  247. 
Thiers,  Adolphe,  81. 
Tichborne  Case,  the,  49. 
Tkeitschke,  PnoFEssoR  voK, Memoir, 

233  ;  also,  120. 
Turners,  230. 
Twesten,  Herr,  122. 
Typhus,  Hunger,  218. 

u. 

Uhland,  J.  L.,  143. 

Ultramoiitanism,  31,  32,  77,  127,  129, 

130,  132,  136,  193,  240,  255. 
Unions,  Relief,  198. 
Uuioiis,  Workiiigmen's,  153,  157,  158, 

177,  179,  198. 
Unity,  German,  65. 
Uuruh,  Herr,  96,  105. 


Vatican,  Council  of,  .32. 

ViKcnow,  PitoFEssoK,  Memoir,  216; 

also,  146. 
"  Volkstaat,"  the,  179,  195. 

W. 

Waldeck,  Herr,  104,  105,  114,  146,  170. 

Wehrenpfeniiig,  Dr.,  239,  240,  242. 

Weiss,  Giiido,  Dr.,  162. 

Welcker,  llerr,  163. 

Wilhelm  I.,  Emperor,  8,  17,  33,  38,  65, 

80,  81,  97,  100,  109,  205. 
Wilhelmstrasse,  99,  117. 
WiNDTUORsT,    Hehr,    Memoir,    129; 

also,  .32, 121,  132,  133,  134,  135,  136, 

138,  193,  2^4,  240. 
Workingmeu-g  Union,  177,  179. 


Zoll  (Cnstoms  Parliament),  G6. 
Zollvereiu,  12,  416. 


108 


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